Perfect for Mom: Celebrating You emPOWERbox

We appreciate all those amazing moms here at Great Care, those wonderful women who take care of us and make sure all is well with the world. That’s especially true for those mothers who are also caregivers for their parents, grandparents or loved ones. And come May, Mother’s Day is always the perfect chance to show the world’s ultimate caregivers how much they mean to us.

These gift ideas are a nice way to express your appreciation to the caregiving mom in your life:

• EmPOWERbox is a movement to encourage, empower, and guide women through major life milestones. The gift boxes that includes a variety of items for women that mark a major transition, support a major career opportunity, or simply celebrate women’s awesomeness with a milestone gift boxes.

The Celebrating You emPOWERbox ($35.00) is perfect for the caregiver in your life just because she’s special to those she helps. It includes a book by Harvard Professor Amy Cuddy to help her bring her boldest self to her biggest challenges, moleskine journal to keep track of her life’s journey, a pen to write in the journal, bath bomb for when she needs a little extra R&R, a candle to keep her stress levels down, a chocolate bar for when it’s just one of those days, and a card with a personalized message.

• “The Mindful Caregiver: Finding Ease in the Caregiving Journey” is a book by Nancy L. Kriseman, geriatric social worker in private practice that touches on the need for caregivers to remember to care for themselves. The book offers suggestions and tips that can help caregivers cultivate routines and practices that benefit everyone.

“Caregiving can be enormously challenging, terrifically rewarding, and potentially draining. Caregivers often wonder how they will navigate the tumultuous waters of caregiving and not lose themselves completely,” says the book’s description on Google Play.

“‘The Mindful Caregiver’ highlights two major approaches to help transform the journey: adopting a practice of mindfulness, which helps caregivers become more self-aware and fully present with the person with whom they are caring, and honoring ‘the spirit-side’ of caregiving which offers new ways of connecting to one another.”

Order “The Mindful Caregiver” online here.

• The Area Agency on Aging in Florida suggests intangible Mother’s Day presents such as the gift of time, of course, but also flowers, massages, gift certificates, care baskets, meal deliveries, music, magazine subscriptions, videos and books. One of the agency’s idea for Mother’s Day is a year’s subscription to Today’s Caregiver Magazine (six issues), available from the Today’s Caregiver/Caregiver.com web site, www.caregiver.com, or call toll-free 1-800-829-2734.

The Area Agency on Aging also says that among the books for purchase on the same website is “The Fearless Caregiver: How to Get the Best Care for Your Loved One and Still Have a Life of Your Own.” This comforting book offers stories and advice from caregivers and encouragement to caregivers to trust themselves. Order caregiving magazine subscriptions, videos, and books online or by calling toll-free numbers. These can be sent directly to a caregiving mom or friend and relative’s home. Some of the videos teach caregiving skills, and the books and magazines provide information and reduce feelings of isolation because they bring the stories of other caregivers and the latest caregiving news into the caregiver’s home.

The Educated Caregiver video series offers tools, tips, and advice for caregivers. A set of three videos by Life View Resources is available by calling 1-800-395-5433 or is on the www.lifeviewresources.com web site. You may find this prize-winning video for sale on other web sites, but you can see video clips before purchasing on the Life View web site.