Dear Queenie,
My parents are getting older and need a lot of day-to-day help taking care of themselves and their house. My sister and I do all of this work for them but our brother will not even help out a little.
He stops by to visit them for a short time once in a while, but that’s all he does. He makes a good living and likes to travel a lot, but won’t spare more than an hour or so now and then for them.
Queenie, how can we get him to carry his fair share of the burden?—Caregiving daughter
Dear Daughter,
You cannot force your brother to pitch in and do some of the work of caring for your parents, but if he can afford to travel so much, surely he can afford to pitch in financially. Then you can use the money to hire someone to help with the housework and/or a professional caregiver to help care for your parents, giving you and your sister some relief.
Hopefully your brother will be pleased with a solution that does not require his physical presence and personal efforts.
