You Might Be a Caregiver If...

This is a guest post from staffer Kathy Klaper

One of the strangest things we hear at AARP is that a lot of times people who are doing an awful lot of caregiving don't actually see themselves as caregivers. Huh?! After we thought about it for awhile, we got it.  Caregiving today looks a lot different than it did years ago. Gone are the days of "June Cleaver" running a household while Ward goes to work. At least in the USA...

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With families spread across the world, not to mention a shift away from the "traditional family," there are a lot more options and distance to cover these days when taking care of a loved one.  Caregivers are sons, daughters, stepchildren, pastors, teachers, grandparents or even nice neighbors. What you think of as "just helping out" is actually caregiving, and there's an awful lot to know about it. The good thing is that AARP has lots of resources on this topic that we want to share through this weekly blog post.

Just a few examples: 

For grandparents who are raising grandchildren try out  Guiding Your Grands, an entire website dedicated to helping your grandkids get the best education.

Not sure where to start? Try the   AARP Caregiving Resource Center to chat with experts, find out about housing, check on legal issues and more.

Want to read more Caregiver stories? Try out our National Caregiving Blog at  Caregiving-AARP

As always, we'd love for you to check back here each Monday for our weekly blog post on caregiving from Illinois. Over the coming weeks, you will hear stories from several AARP Illinois staff members who are caregivers.  Each staffer has a different story to tell and is dealing with a unique situation. We hope our stories will compel you to share your own.  See you next week!

Related: The Honest Truth: Caregiving Sucks