Though Lisa C. Deluca’s article is primarily written for those who are full-time caregivers for aging parents and relatives, there’s a great deal to learn here about what it means to accept help when caring for the elderly.

Caring for the elderly in their homes often cannot be done singlehandedly by one family caregiver. Sometimes friends and neighbors offer to help, but caregivers often find themselves not accepting this support.

Caregivers can better understand their own reluctance to accept legitimate offers of help by doing a brief exercise which helps them get to the bottom of their thoughts and fears about accepting help. This exercise can help caregivers realize that their old patterns of thinking and acting may not be helpful in their current situation. They can challenge their old ways of thinking and substitute new ones.

Click here to read the entire article.