I Am A Single Mother

Before my grandfather had to stay in the hospital, my father took him to his chemotherapy or radiation appointments during the week. My uncle built a ramp to the door so that it would be easier to move my grandfather, who was in a wheel chair, in and out of the house. My mother took care of any paperwork that needed to be done as well as any medical-related tasks. When my grandfather received hospice care in the last month of his life, my mother and grandmother helped bathe and change him as well as cook special meals for

My grandmother became her primary caretaker, and after my birth, my primary caregiver. Pregnancy and childbirth greatly exacerbated my mother’s illness due to hormone levels and stress, so she was almost entirely incapacitated for the first few months of my life. This created additional responsibility in caring for me for my grandmother, and my aunt. As I grew older, my mother’s weakened immune system made it unsafe for me to stay in the house if I were sick, causing me to stay with my aunt frequently while getting over the flu or other childhood illnesses. This elevated her responsibility from an extended family member to a parent like figure. I also experienced different responsibilities from other children my age as I got older. For example, at age seven I began giving my mother the injections she needed every other day because after being allowed to try it once, it was found that I was able to do it more painlessly than my grandmother. Things like unloading my mother’s wheelchair, walker or scooter, and assembling it became second nature. I think my family would have felt less strain if we had had a greater support system outside of our family. While family involvement is essential in the success and wellness of a chronically ill person, outside support is essential for the

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

My mother was a widow by the time she was in her mid-thirties with four children under the age of 16. It would have been easy to accept handouts and pity, but I witnessed her rise from tragedy, more determined than ever to provide every necessity that her children needed and wanted. As appreciative as I was when I was younger, I look back in total awe of her. Even though she worked 60-plus hours a week to make ends meet, she still told us that

My Great Grandpa lived in a small town in Iowa called Pocahontas. His wife or my Great Grandmother died before I was born. He was living in his house until he turned 92 but after he turned 92 he got very sick. Not soon after he got moved to a nursing home. His health was like a rollercoaster. My Great Grandpa’s

My grandmother resided with one of my aunts for the last 15 years of her life. As her health started to fail her, she became more and more dependent. My grandmother was always a very independent woman and the rock of our

My grandma was a mother of three. She had my Aunt heather, Aunt Angie, and my mother. She raised my mother and Heather while going to college, which is a fight on its own, but to make it more difficult, she had hodgkins and had spent over an entire year fighting it in Iowa’s childrens hospital and held victory her senior year.. The chances of surviving hodgkins in the 60’s was around 75% and wasn’t the end for my Grandma, she lived to fight another day. Moving on in her life,She spent most of her time studying, she graduated high school on the top of her class, then going to college of hamilton for business. During that time, she had my mom and my Aunt Heather on the way.

When I was younger, I grew up with four grandparents who I could spend time with. As I started to grow older, my grandparents started to deteriorate. My grandmother developed Alzheimer’s, and more specifically dementia. I remember one day at my beach house when I was talking to her, she asked me who I was because she couldn’t remember. She didn’t remember her own grandson. She started to lose all her memory and she had difficulty hearing and speaking. It got to a point where there was no way of communicating with her, and we wondered if she even knew who her own family was. She went through this deterioration for upwards of 5 years, and I it got to a point where I forgot what she was like before she developed the mental disease. I would watch

It is worth nothing that “Every cause produces more than one effect,” (Spencer). In like manner my grandmother’s selfless acts of compassion left lifelong effects on every individual she encountered. Beatrice Strong was a backbone of her family and the community: She supported us by working two full time jobs, she volunteered in her church, and sojourned the elderly in nursing homes. Her love and support have helped me and my family conquer the inevitable. She managed to instill positivity in everyone who knew her. Not only was she an amazing role model, she was a hardworking woman who believed “Happiness does not come through selfishness, but through selflessness.”

In most cases, grandparents never anticipated the need to raise their grandchildren, and they are often ill-prepared to care for one or more children. Unlike traditional foster parents, many grandparent caregivers who informally assume responsibility for their grandchildren are offered no training to raise traumatized children, and receive limited financial assistance to meet their grandchildren’s basic needs. Regardless of these challenges, many take on the parenting role valiantly, but grandparent caregivers may be financially poor and have little experience navigating bureaucratic systems for specialized services. Ultimately, the grandchildren are at risk for not receiving adequate supports for positive growth and development. The number of grandparents serving as primary caregivers for their grandchildren has increased nationally in the past twenty years, but the phenomenon is most prevalent in the southern region of the nation.

My grandma had survived a hard life, and yet managed to raise four responsible, well-educated, and successful children. All this she did while working as a respected psychiatric nurse and a state mental health board member. Although she had had and was still overcoming trials in life, I always knew she would be there and cared about me and my life. As my brother and I grew older and were unable to visit my grandparents as often as we

My grandmother, Joan Stackhouse, has been the most influential woman in my life. She was born in the late 1930s and raised during the time where African Americans didn’t have many rights. She told me about a time where all she could do is clean houses to earn a couple cent to support the family. Her husband worked as a policeman and was barely home. When an educational opportunity became available she took advantage of it and began taking classes at Francis Marion University to later become a teacher’s aid. Today at almost 80 she’s battling Rheumatoid Arthritis, fibromyalgia, and a couple other things that comes with old age. But she remains strong. my grandmother has influenced me to remain strong regardless of the situation and has taught

The most caring things anyone has ever done for me is stopping my biological mother from leaving the hospital. My mother was a good person until she got into drugs and when you're desperate you do bad things and one of those bad things is my biological father. My mother prostituted herself for some money and accidently got pregnant, she told the man and they were dating and both agreed they didn’t want a baby so he pushed her out in front of traffic and thought they terminated it meaning me.A few weeks later she knew she still was so they got in an argument and he threw her off a balcony and broke her ribs and she knew he had to of gotten rid of me then. A few months later he got shot in a drug deal and was rushed to the hospital where she

Grandpa is almost ninety-five and now resides in a nursing home. The leg he fractured forty years ago is too weak to carry his weight. His eyes are going bad. But to me he's still the big, strong man who used to take his grandchild in his arms and rock to

My grandmother had four daughters that she cared for on a daily basis. She explained how