Caregiving guilt- what exactly is it?

Is it okay to have caregiving guilt?

What if you feel guilty all the time?

We have received some really good comments about this on a post I wrote called Am I Being Patient Enough?

That post was all about those seemingly minor frustrations that just build and build until you think you’re going to lose your mind.

I used the example a friend of mine experienced about an ‘outing ’ with his parents.

His Mom and Dad walked through some wet paint on a sidewalk even though they had been repeatedly warned not to.

“There was my Dad with his walker with those little tennis balls attached on the ends, sliding through the wet paint,” my friend told me.

This brings up a whole lot of issues, but I’ll cover the guilt one today.

Is it okay to feel bad about yourself, your parents and your care giving when things go wrong, or even when everything is running smoothly?

Is it okay to feel like you’re failing as a caregiver?

Yes.

My friend was ready to pull his hair out. 

Sure, it’s okay.  He had good reason to.

In fact, I think it’s healthy.

It’s one of those things we must work through.  The sooner the better.

Let’s face it.  Our parents can be like children- children with about 80-90 years worth of baggage. 

You’re not refereeing two eight-year olds fighting over a basketball or trying to figure out how to keep your baby from destroying the Christmas tree. 

We’re into the real white water of ‘parenting’ now.  

I’ve talked more about this caregiving  issue in today’s post in our Aging Parents Community  and I cover some other issues such as what are our real repsonsibilities?

Here’s the post- Am I a Good Caregiver?

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