Amy Goyer

Biography: As an expert in aging and families, specializing in family caregiving and multigenerational issues, I am a consultant, speaker and writer. I've worked for more than 30 years with older adults, children with special needs and their families.

As AARP's Home & Family Expert, I provide expertise on a variety of issues, including family caregiving and aging in place, livable communities, grandparenting, parenting and other family relationships, multigenerational living and family history.

Right now the most important role I'm playing in life is that of primary caregiver for my parents who are 86 and 89. In 2009 I moved to Arizona to be close to my parents and I return to Washington, DC frequently for business. It's a crazy life but I'm grateful to be able to support my parents and do the work I love at the same time!

My Take Care blog posts are about caregiving for Mom and Dad, and you'll also hear about my partner in caregiving: the adorable Jackson, their service dog, who is a Schnoodle. My All in the Family blog posts are about a variety of family, friendship and other relationship issues. I also write a column on AARP.org, act as a media spokesperson and am a regular guest on AARP radio. Author of "Things to do now you're a Grandparent." Winner of 2012 ALTY Best Blog Award in Caregiving category and Finalist in Seniorhomes.com Social Media Rockstar Award.

My new book, "Juggling Work and Caregiving" will be released in fall of 2013.

Follow me on Twitter @amygoyer and Pinterest! Connect on Facebook www.facebook.com/amygoyer1, LinkedIn or I'm agoyer here in the AARP Online Community.

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Amy Goyer 'sPosts

My Interview With NPR About Alzheimer’s and My Dad

Posted on 05/20/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Personal Health | RelationshipsI recently spoke about my Dad with NPR’s Jacki Lyden for their Weekend All Things Considered story on Alzheimer’s disease. I told her it was a bittersweet experience for me. I started listening to the show as a young child with Dad, and there I was, 40 years later, at the NPR studio, talking about him and the ways that Alzheimer’s disease is slowly robbing his brain. The first few notes of the show’s theme song immediately summon warm, secure “all …

Friends Jump-Start Fitness (and Hotness) Together

Posted on 05/17/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Personal Health | Relationships | Your LifeAs National Women’s Health Week comes to a close, my thoughts turn to physical activity … or lack thereof, which has been my problem. As a working caregiver (for both of my parents), I am typical: I focus on those two necessities of my life first and taking care of myself falls to the bottom of the list. It’s a terrible conundrum — I can’t let my work or caregiving slip, but there are only so many hours in the …

Caregivers: 3 Easy Tips to Remember Your Health Checkups

Posted on 05/13/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Personal HealthI finally did it. After more than two years with two painful teeth, I finally got my dental checkup and teeth cleaning! Unfortunately, my delay has caused the need for two new crowns. I’ve always done this regularly, but since I started intensive caregiving that has gone down the drain (as have my other regular checkups). I feel like I should be at a support group meeting saying, “My name is Amy, and I’m a caregiver who has neglected my own …

Haiku to Mom

Posted on 05/10/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Home & Family | Relationships | Your LifeFor Mother’s Day this year, haiku poetry seemed an appropriate medium to express feelings about our moms: short and sweet; direct, descriptive, creative; gets the point across without embellishment-kind of like our moms, right?! Here is my haiku for Patricia, my Mom, who surprises and amazes and teaches me every day. Fragile and yet strong Her heart grows for her children Mom is love warrior – @amygoyer I tweeted out my haiku and put out a call for haiku about mothers via my Twitter and …

7 Tips for Safety When Loved Ones Travel Alone

Posted on 05/6/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Relationships | Your LifeMy heart is wrenching for the family of Victoria Kong, an 83-year-old woman who recently traveled by herself from Barbados in the Caribbean to Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. Somehow, she got off the plane and bypassed a wheelchair that her family said they had arranged for her. Airport cameras caught her in the taxi line, but later captured images of her walking away from the airport along the river path. On Monday, her body was found in the Potomac river. …

Things Grandparents Never Thought They’d Do

Posted on 05/3/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Home & Family | RelationshipsDo you find yourself at an imaginary tea party? What about slaying a dragon with a cardboard sword? Rolling down a hill at high speed? Listening to Justin Bieber? Laughing repeatedly at knock-knock jokes? How about umpiring a wiffle-ball game? If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions, and you are not under the age of 14 — you may be a grandparent. If you are a grandparent and have found yourself doing something you never thought you would, we …