Adult children are busy. Parents are getting older.

Chores are becoming more and more difficult for Mom to do independently. She does not remember things like before. She may forget the stove turned on after having cooked or forget to turn the tap off in the sink. Her hearing has diminished considerably, and she can’t hear the water running. Her forgetfulness is impeding her from doing the things she used to do on her own, independently, and even worse is placing her in real danger (e.g., fire or flood). What to do?

Ernest F. Schumacher wrote Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. He wrote this over forty years ago, but if you did not know it, you might think the book was published last year.

Schumacher begins with one of his biggest concerns, as it relates to the abuse and degradation of humanity and the environment in the name of “giantism,” a combination of the notions that “growth is good” and “bigger is better.”

Caring for a family member with dementia comes with enormous physical and emotional challenges. While your loved one may be physically capable, their forgetfulness and deteriorating mental capacity can put them in harm’s way when left alone.