\n<\/p>\n
Helping an ageing parent or loved one often begins with easy-to-field requests: Pick up a prescription. Drive them to a doctor\u2019s appointment. Grab groceries.<\/p>\n
However, light tasks \u2013 just \u201chelping out\u201d here and there \u2013 may eventually snowball into the avalanche of full-time caregiving, a phenomenon becoming known as \u201ccaregiver creep\u201d. Like \u201ccaregiver burnout\u201d, it\u2019s not a formal term, but there is growing awareness about this slow build among healthcare providers and experts.<\/p>\n
A 2025 research report from the AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving found that 63 million Americans act as caregivers; one in every four adults is a caregiver and the majority (94%) are caring for an adult. As the population ages \u2013 the oldest baby boomers will turn 80 this year \u2013 the need for care will increase.<\/p>\n
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the majority (59%) of those providing this unpaid care are women. Many gen X and millennial women are feeling the sandwich-generation squeeze of caring for parents and children on top of their careers.<\/p>\n
Recognizing when responsibilities increase, how to identify when support needs to level up, and where to find resources both for the person receiving care and the caregiver can help manage caregiver creep.<\/p>\n
According to the Caregiver Alliance, a caregiver is an unpaid individual who helps another person with everyday activities of daily living or medical tasks. (Separately, paid care providers may assist at home or at a care facility.)<\/p>\n
Caregiver creep is a slow build of tasks and increased responsibilities that may not be apparent at first. It can be distinguished from a more straightforward, sudden plunge into caregiving after an unexpected change in health or circumstances.<\/p>\n
Kim Elliott, a 45-year-old director of software sales in Denver, Colorado, has experienced both. Elliott was close to her father-in-law. She, rather than his two sons, was the point person for his care. She ordered groceries for him, bought his clothes and made extra dinners to drop off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took my father-in-law to a doctor\u2019s appointment and they referred to me as the caregiver \u2026 At that moment, I recognized that I was the one caring for him and that there was a term for all of the years of care,\u201d Elliott says.<\/p>\n
By contrast to this slow creep, in late 2020 Elliott abruptly became the caregiver to her mother. Elliott\u2019s mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia that required an urgent stem cell transplant and round-the-clock care. Amid the pandemic, her mother relocated from California to Colorado to move in with Elliott, who became both her stem cell donor and caregiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an absolute plunge,\u201d Elliott says. \u201cThere were minutes between me realizing that she was in need of intense care and the decision to raise my hand to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graphic with three lines of text that say, in bold, ‘Well Actually’, then ‘Read more on living a good life in a complex world,’ then a pinkish-lavender pill-shaped button with white letters that say ‘More from this section’\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is very common for people to not recognize the slide into caregiver status \u2013 when being a helpful child becomes something more. An estimated 53 million people provide over $870bn worth of unpaid care for loved ones in the US, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. <\/em>Public health experts say that the tremendous strain on individuals, the grand scale and lack of resources constitutes a crisis.<\/p>\n Jackee de Lagarde\u2019s caregiver creep began in 2010 when her father became ill. De Lagarde, a 49-year-old fashion and branding consultant in New Jersey, relocated from San Francisco to New York with her husband to help him. Caregiver roles are often temporary, but following her father\u2019s death in 2012, his medical costs left her mom in need of financial support. When de Lagarde\u2019s son was born in 2013, her mother moved in with them, resulting in a positive multigenerational arrangement \u2013 particularly as her mother helped with childcare.<\/p>\n In 2021, de Lagarde\u2019s mom was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare degenerative neurological disease. De Lagarde and her husband, who had already cared for his mother, stepped into full-time caregiver roles.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s part of the creep. You are so in the moment. There\u2019s so much that needs to be done that I wasn\u2019t thinking about myself. I wasn\u2019t thinking, how is this gonna affect me, my identity, my family, my career? \u2013 it was just go mode,\u201d says de Lagarde.<\/p>\n Health shifts may be slow or sudden, but a person\u2019s needs often increase with age-related changes.<\/p>\n \u201cAgeing denial is the biggest disease we have,\u201d says Rosanne M Leipzig, a professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and author of Honest Aging. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be prepared. If you know what\u2019s normal and what to expect, you can gear up for it and adapt,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n There are two categories of tasks that are used to assess cognitive and physical health, says Leipzig: activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). These are the everyday tasks required to live independently. Healthcare providers rate the tasks <\/strong>on <\/strong>a scale to assess health and ability, and determine if support is needed. \u201cThese are clues that something\u2019s going on \u2026 and also clues that people need more help than they currently have,\u201d says Leipzig.<\/p>\n ADL include daily tasks such as bathing, personal hygiene, using the toilet, eating, getting dressed and moving around the house. Sometimes, people only need temporary assistance with ADL, such as after a surgery. IADL are more advanced skills, such as managing money, organizing a household, cooking, making a phone call, driving and shopping.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Well Actually<\/span><\/p>\n Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n If you notice that an older person needs help with ADL and IADL \u2013 for instance, they are wearing the same outfit or taking longer to answer the phone, or have an empty fridge \u2013 these are signs that support is needed, says Martin Hernandez, general manager of family sales at A Place for Mom, an agency that helps assess and find in-home support and senior living options for families.<\/p>\n Leipzig notes that the Medicare annual wellness visit can be a helpful assessment tool for ADL and IADL. She recommends someone dial in or be at a parent\u2019s wellness visit to understand their overall health needs.<\/p>\n First, start the conversation. \u201cDialogues are really important,\u201d says Leipzig. Acknowledge that their needs have shifted, then \u201cbrainstorm together\u201d, she says. \u201cMake it a team effort. Collaborate if it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n The best-case scenario is to get ahead of the creep and start the conversation before their needs grow. Invite other point people too, advises Hernandez. \u201cOver half of the families that we speak to wish they would have started their planning sooner. It doesn\u2019t mean that a decision needs to be made, but you need to be prepared for it,\u201d says Hernandez.<\/p>\n As a caregiver, you cannot do it all, so knowing the options can be mutually beneficial. \u201cNo one task seems huge on its own. But over time, that mental load, that stress, that worry, that time commitment can become very real,\u201d says Hernandez. Meet with a social worker or senior living adviser to discuss support and safety for ageing in place, whether a move is the right option, and budgeting.<\/p>\n For transportation, grocery shopping or socialization, connect with a social worker through a community agency or local senior center, or at a hospital.<\/p>\n Many caregivers find themselves financially responsible for covering costs or taking a step back from their careers to provide care. This can result in lost earnings. Advance planning can help minimize that impact. A Place for Mom\u2019s 2026 Cost of Long-Term Care and Senior Living Report found that the national median costs were $34 per hour for home care, $3,200 per month for independent living, $5,419 per month for assisted living and $6,690 per month for skilled memory care.<\/p>\n Caring for loved ones can deepen relationships, but caregivers need outside support to avoid burnout and maintain their own health. Leipzig warns that caregivers are often unaware of how burdened they are. She recommends connecting with a social worker for services and support groups for caregivers or groups specific to care for Alzheimer\u2019s, dementia or cancer.<\/p>\n Caregiving can be extremely isolating. Resources are scattered, research is often self-led and community can be hard to find. In 2025, Elliott founded Gray Monster, a newsletter dedicated to those supporting ageing parents that features practical resources, tools and interviews with experts.<\/p>\n Elliott wanted to help others feel less alone and normalize conversations about care. \u201cThe caregiving experience I walked into cannot be the one that 63 million people are also walking into. I can\u2019t let that happen,\u201d Elliott says.<\/p>\n De Lagarde also felt that isolation and launched the Who Cares About Me? podcast for caregivers. \u201cEverybody\u2019s going through it. We all have some of the same experiences, and sometimes you just want to be heard and acknowledged,\u201d de Lagarde says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Helping an ageing parent or loved one often begins with easy-to-field requests: Pick up a prescription. Drive them to a doctor\u2019s appointment. Grab groceries. However, light tasks \u2013 just \u201chelping out\u201d here and there \u2013 may eventually snowball into the avalanche of full-time caregiving, a phenomenon becoming known as \u201ccaregiver creep\u201d. Like \u201ccaregiver burnout\u201d, it\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[25255,25256,1489,10072,9532,779,9092,22057],"class_list":{"0":"post-52041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-caregiver","9":"tag-creep","10":"tag-elderly","11":"tag-fulltime","12":"tag-helping","13":"tag-job","14":"tag-relatives","15":"tag-snowball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How do you know when an ageing person needs more care?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What should you do when older relatives or friends need more support?<\/h2>\n
What is the effect on caregivers?<\/h2>\n