How To Care For My Mother

I AM AT WITS END WITH MY mother.  She has always been a difficult person, and now the best place for her is the nursing home if I could get my sisters to agree. SO FAR SHE WILL NOT LET ANY ONE COME IN AND TAKE CARE OF HER. MY OTHER SISTER SAYS SHE IS GOING TO MOVE IN, but that is just talk. Is there something I could do to the one sister that my mother relies on heavily to go along?

Denise in New Jersey, 42

As you now know, getting families to agree when a situation is so emotionally charged is very difficult and time consuming. Sometime it’s best to let everyone involved know how this is affecting your life.  People are usually so involved in their own problems that they do not think about how others are being negatively impacted.  It also helps to write out the pros and the cons of each situation such as your sister moving. This usually helps you think about all of the advantages as well as the disadvantages. You cannot change your mother’s or your sister’s personality, but you can control how you react and move forward.