I hear you. It's so tempting to just shield ourselves from the hassle and discomfort of pushing back. But the aides are trained to follow a schedule, not to think about what's best for your mom in the moment. If you do the thinking for them and give a clear, calm instruction, most will be fine with ...

It’s perfectly fine to let her sit there and twiddle her thumbs. Truly. Even as an adult, there were some classes I had to take, but was not that interested in. Would you say it was my professor’s role to spend extra time with me and try to get me interested in it? No. It was simply their job to...