📋 I’m My Mom’s Caregiver, But I Still Want a Life. Help! (AARP Article)

[Spring2025]

FROM THE ARTICLE: I’m My 90-Year-Old Mom’s Caregiver, But I Still Want a Life. Help!

Advice on how to avoid feeling ‘trapped’ by family caregiving responsibilities.

By Barry J. Jacobs, AARP.

Published February 28, 2025.

We asked Facebook AARP Family Caregivers Discussion Group members to submit pressing questions they’d like Barry Jacobs to tackle in his caregiving column. The family therapist and clinical psychologist took on this hot-button topic:

I’m feeling trapped. This time of my life should be my golden years. I am 66 years old — originally retired at 45 — but I went back to work part-time to get out of my house. My mother, who is 90, has lived with my husband and me for 8 years now. She has no income, only Social Security, which is why she is living with us. She tells me I owe her to take care of her — and maybe I do — she raised me. I'm tired, frustrated and I want a life.

(Letter edited for length and clarity.)

USE LINK BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE: https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/life-balance/info-2025/caregiver-advice-feeling-trapped.html