The caregiver needs care too
Family caregivers manage medications, meals, bathing, appointments and behavior changes, usually alongside a job and their own family. Often for years. Usually without ever calling themselves a caregiver.
It is not sustainable without breaks, and the consequences of skipping them are predictable: exhaustion, resentment, illness, and eventually a placement decision made in crisis rather than on your own terms.
How families use it
Some book the same four hours every Tuesday — a standing appointment with their own life. Some need full days. Some need two weeks so they can go to a wedding, or have their own surgery, without unravelling the whole arrangement.
All of it is normal. The right amount is whatever lets you keep doing this.
Making the handover work
Before the first respite visit we sit down and write the routine down properly — the medication schedule, what they like to eat, which chair is theirs, what helps when they get agitated, who to call.
That document is what lets you actually switch off while you are away, which is the entire point.