Should we provide meals for our aides?

Whenever we hire an aide, it's generally for all day, 9 hours. So yes, I do offer them food and drink. Many don't accept but I always at least make the offer.

I also tell them I'm not one of those people that thinks they have to look busy every minute they are there. It's not the nature of caregiving. As long as stuff gets done, then stuff gets done. So I actually show them to a room they can use to chill out in. There's a TV there and a selection of movies. I tell them it's their respite if they need to get away for a while.

That's how I always treated all my employees during my career. I care that work gets done. I don't care that people need to look busy because they are on "my time". Happy workers are productive workers.

I used to run a babysitting agency. We requested the client provide the sitter with a meal if/when they were feeding the children. It's considered a common courtesy, in my opinion, and one that should be extended to all hired people who are coming into one's home & caring for their children, their parents, or their loved ones in general.

As human beings caring for other human beings, why not extend such a courtesy? When I worked as an aide for an elderly couple, I DID consider them friends and they DID consider me a friend as well. How do you not do that? It blows my mind to think that a relationship would not be developed between caregivers of all kinds and the people they care for. Isn't that what life is all about?

Good for you to the OP for offering meals to the aides who help you out.

I offer meals and snacks to my mother's privately engaged respite care givers; it's the Southern farming way.

BTW: Today I offered the UPS guy some hot coffee in a large take out cup. In the summer I offer 2 bottles of water to the UPS/FedEx delivery folks - one cold and one frozen. I never have a problem getting a box set just inside the door and small packages are always placed in my storage bench when I'm away from home.

I think there’s something about breaking bread with another person that feeds our spirit. Many of us come from a generation where everyone sat down together and shared the day’s events while they ate. I think sharing the meal gives our LO an opportunity to socialize and they’re more likely to eat better as a result. So yes, I think it can be a wonderful thing. If you prefer not, there should be no obligation to do so. Check with the agency to clarify their policies, but at the end of the day I would do what feels right. Especially, if it makes your LO happy.

I do not have hired aides, but I always offer drinks, snacks and meals to people who do work for me.

Whether a plumber, landscaper or handiman, I will offer snacks or a meal. The handiman who looks after our cottage property is invited to dinner a few times a year too.

I always offered the CGs for my dad the option to eat it if it was there.. just the same as I did my daughters friends when she was here.. it's there,, eat it! Dads CG used to BRING food she cooked for mom and dad,, like chicken soup or desserts, and she never asked for a penny for it, and she made a lot less than we did! She also never ate us out of house and home.. I think it is just polite to offer people who take care of our loved ones ( and our CG loved my folks also)some common courtesy .I would never think to make a pot of coffee and not offer it.. To me it is the same. Now if you could PROVE your CG is shopping in your pantry that would be another thing,, But we never had this happen. Jannyfa I think you sound like a careing person, and your aides probably love you

I considered the aides that worked with us while helping to take care of my mother as friends! I certainly didn't treat them as the hired help! This is a whole other category, in my opinion. We certainly did tell them they were welcome to eat. We even had them make a grocery list since they were also cooking for my mother and we told them to put things down they wanted. These were people who were private caretakers. Some would stay all weekend so couldn't necessarily leave and get food. Yeah, I know, there may be labor laws on that but it is how they wanted to work and we wanted to work with them since they were life savers to us. They also ate with my mom and that was comforting to her.
Funny thing, half the time they still brought their own food, but they knew they could eat what was there.
Yes, it cost more, but it costs more to keep someone at home anyway.

We're not really in clients' homes long enough for meals to be a common issue, but we would definitely "decline with thanks" - as we do do on the many occasions when we're offered tea or coffee and snacks. Speaking for myself I always appreciate the thought, but for one thing there IS a boundary there (I wouldn't accept tips or gifts either) and it's simplest just not to go near it, and for another if we did accept we'd spend half the shift desperately hunting for loos.

Mother's main aide brought her own lunch but was very happy to share mother's and leave hers in the fridge to take home again. She never took it for granted, though; I always had to invite her.

If the aides are there at the mealtimes of the person they're looking after, then I would say yes they should be invited to share. But you don't have to provide them with food for their breaks, they should really bring their own.

How long are their shifts? Is it practical for them to bring enough to last them?

Thanks I always offer or have made up and in refridge if I'm going out for my husbands caregivers and I'm sure he likes them to eat with him. I have found them to be very caring of my spouce

FloridaDD, I am surprised that you feel so strongly about this. There may be contract requirements, or personal preferences that people really wish to follow. Otherwise there are no rules or moral issues, and the employer can choose the arrangements about food.