Tips for Balancing College Life With Caring for Senior Family Members

Having a senior family member is a blessing; you get to experience and feel their love and enjoy the stories as they reminisce about their past experiences and share their lessons about life. Despite senior family members being a blessing, it can be a handful trying to balance caring for them and fulfilling your academic responsibilities. If you neglect your academic obligations, such as doing an assignment on time, you might be pressured by the deadline and end up submitting a low-quality paper. Consequently, you’ll score low grades, or the instructor might ask you to rewrite the paper, and you will find yourself wondering, “Where can I find someone to rewrite my essay?”

Taking care of seniors is demanding, as they require close attention. Some may need round-the-clock care, especially if they have critical health conditions. While caring for them may sound like a tough task, it should not worry you. With the proper support, you can make it all work. Here are tips to help you balance caring for senior family members and managing academic responsibilities.

Plan and Prioritize

Taking care of a senior family member and keeping up with your academic responsibilities is a tough ask. There are a ton of activities that need to be taken care of within a time limit. It is especially the case if the person requires 24/7 care, takes medications, or cannot handle basic tasks. To keep ahead of the task, plan your time. List the activities that you should do and allocate time for them. Use calendars and other planning tools to facilitate scheduling. It will help ensure you do not forget the most important tasks. Every day, have a to-do list to keep track of your activities. Planning will ensure efficiency as you know what to do and when to do it.

Be Flexible and Adapt

Academic responsibilities, as well as taking care of a senior member, have a lot of inherent uncertainties. For instance, a last-minute assignment needs to be delivered, or your family member requires urgent medical help. Thus, you need a flexible mindset that is willing and ready to adapt to changes if need be. Due to the uncertainty, there is always a need to have a contingency plan. If anticipating a busy week ahead, have a backup caregiver or family member help with some tasks.

Ask for Help and Share Responsibilities

Caring for a close senior family member is usually from the point of love and respect. You want to take care of them like they have always cared for you and provided help when needed. Due to this reasoning, you may want to do all the work by yourself. However, you have to understand that sometimes it might be too much, and you need help. Asking somebody else to help you is not running away from responsibilities; it is being realistic with what you can handle. So, do not be afraid to ask for help from friends or family members. Getting people to help you with simple chores such as meal preparations, shopping, or some house cleaning can go a long way to ensure that you keep up with your academic work.

Leverage Campus Resources

You need all the help you can get to balance caregiving and academics. Luckily, most colleges have room for adjustments. Firstly, ensure you communicate to your professors about your situation for academic advising. Most are willing to make adjustments such as deadlines and can advise you accordingly, especially regarding class attendance and deadlines.

If your course allows for online learning, it is a better alternative as it can enable you to learn from anywhere. It will save you the hassle of commuting to school, thus giving you ample time for studies and caring for the senior family member. Also, most colleges have support groups for students who care for senior family members. If such a support group exists in your school, join it. It will allow you to open up and relieve the emotional baggage. Interacting with people in a similar situation helps you know you are not alone.

Create Time for Self-Care

Due to the demanding nature of the two roles, it is easy to forget about yourself. The endless to-do lists make taking time off look like a waste of time. However, you need the break to allow your body to rejuvenate and recoup the energy. Taking breaks gives the brain time to relax to ensure optimal functionality. You do not want to reach burnout point as it will impede your ability to carry out the responsibilities.

Also, ensure you get enough sleep. You will usually be tempted to concentrate on the roles, but before you know it, you have not slept in a day. Sleep is therapeutic and helps recharge your body. What’s more, eat well, exercise to keep fit, and have the energy to take on the responsibilities.

Seek Emotional Support

When taking care of senior members and attending school, the most common thing people think about is the roles that come with it. However, many fail to realize that it also has emotional effects. You hope to provide the person with the best care you can; however, sometimes, you might fall short. For instance, you might not get all the tasks done within the time scope you wanted and get angry at yourself. Also, if the person is sick and you have financial hardships, you might feel like a failure.

There are complex emotions that come with caregiving, and sometimes, it may lead you to feel overwhelmed or become anxious. You need to be in the right state of mind to manage caring for the senior and studies. So, if you feel overwhelmed, talk to your school counselor. They will help you deal with your feelings effectively to avoid negative impacts on your studies and other aspects of your life.

Final Thoughts

Being a collegian is already a daunting task. Incorporating caring for senior family members makes it even harder. Even though balancing academic life and caring for seniors is challenging, you can manage through proper planning, being flexible, sharing responsibilities and asking for help, leveraging campus resources, practicing self-care, and seeking emotional support.