I am new to the caregiver situation, having just added an additional bedroom/bath to my home and moved my Mother-in-law in on August 20, 2003.  I thank my lucky stars that she is a sweet, loving, giving, generous person; easy to get along with, without ever complaining.  Even so, I am finding that being a caregiver is even harder than I had ever supposed it to be.

Wanting to get her involved in more activities, we went to the Senior Center last week.  Knowing she loves bingo, we found that this entertainment is available four days a week.  We brought home their booklet as well as calendars and I just knew we would soon have some new activities in our life!  WRONG.  After reviewing everything, my Mom informed me that she was NOT going to go play bingo, even stating that she was not sure she even remembers how to play (have not played since last fall).  Feeling that I should attempt to force an issue of this nature, I readily agreed that it was okay.  After thinking about the situation for a few days, one morning over coffee I related to her that I had decided that I would go ahead and play bingo; that it was perfectly alright that she was choosing not to go.  She looked at me for a moment as though she could not believe I was making this decision, and then announced:  well, if you are going to play bingo, I will go with you.  BINGO - I had found a way to approach the situation with success!