Family members have the responsibility to care for their elders when they require full assistance. Old age brings a lot of complications to senior citizens that hinder them from easily navigating daily life. Sometimes it’s caused by an illness or weakness due to aging. They’ll be needing support with mobility, personal care, food and water, medical care, and other tasks. Family members should take shifts so that everyone can have time to rest. Night and day supervision may be necessary to constantly provide assistance. Elderly people may place themselves in danger, especially if their mobility and balance aren’t what they used to be. Also, they might forget to take their medications on time. It’s certainly a full-time commitment that will need all your strength.

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As a caregiver, you should also prioritize yourself from time to time. The job is undoubtedly exhausting, especially when you have to sacrifice sleep. It’s best to look for someone to take turns with you. If you have drained yourself, it’ll be harder to offer service to other people. Insufficient rest may weaken your body and make you vulnerable to sickness. There’s nothing wrong with sleeping for a while. Other family members should not make you feel bad for feeling tired and wanting several hours for yourself. The caregiver is entitled to catch some sleep after dedicating so much of their time to their grandparent.

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For this reason, BabyZealousideal6033 did not deserve to be called neglectful by his father for missing one call. He wrote the whole issue in his post, which doesn’t seem like a problem in the first place. “I’m 19m, and I’ve spent the past 2 yrs taking care of my grandma because she’s sick and everyone else in the family is either too busy or just doesn’t care enough to help take care of her,” OP wrote. The Redditor should’ve been enjoying his youth but was kind enough to accompany his grandma. He was working hard to keep his grandmother comfortable and safe every day. Sometimes he’d sacrifice sleep to ease his grandma’s mental episodes. One time, the grandmother chose to call OP’s dad for comfort instead of him. However, the father took it as an issue.

“It was 2 am, and I was dead asleep, passed out after doing a bunch of yard work all day, then all of a sudden, my door is busted open, the doorknob put a hole in the wall, and I’m woken up to my dad yelling at me telling me how neglectful I am and how much I don’t care about my grandma,” BabyZealousideal6033 shared. All his hard work was forgotten due to a missed call while he was resting. It was a well-deserved sleep, but the father couldn’t look past it. He was even yelled at for being a “bad grandson.” Redditors knew it was an unnecessary reaction and filled the comment section with validating opinions.

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“NTA You've already gone above and beyond. It's clear that you love and take very good care of your Grandma. You need to sleep and rest; think of it as taking care of her. If you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of her,” OGBennyGoat commented. You cannot fill someone’s cup if you are empty yourself. Rest is essential for caregivers — his father should’ve known better. Also, his dad should be taking turns with him instead of calling him neglectful.

Everyone in the family must be willing to participate in caring for the grandmother. OP was clearly the only one genuine enough to prioritize his grandmother's safety. He should be appreciated and given breaks. If his own father cannot give proper appreciation, strangers from the internet can. Help BabyZealouseideal6603 justify himself by writing down your thoughts in the comment section.