Caregiver is very nice and takes care of my parents who are in their 90s. Parents live in my house. When she asked for my WiFi password I was taken aback. Isn't she supposed to be helping my parents? I know there is a lot of downtime when parents are sleeping but I feel uncomfortable giving out my password. Not sure how to handle this. I need to educate myself on how I can better respond to her request.
Now as far as the Wifi problem goes, CONFRONT HER and say "Why exactly do you need MY wifi password? Your job is to do such-and-such with my family member." Then go from there, if need be, fire them.
up in case there is care question. Give them something to do during break.
Again, just because you don't know how to find the WiFi password that's being used to connect to WiFi, doesn't mean others can't. I can find it. Don't assume your caregiver is stupid just because she or he is a caregiver. Don't assume your caregiver doesn't know anyone who knows how to find the password. Sharing your WiFi password with everyone who passes through your house is not a smart idea whether or not everyone else is doing it.
But then, it does depend on the arrangements of the caregiver. If the caregiver is there 24/7, then the caregiver probably has her or his own living quarters with a computer. In that case, it would make sense to set up a guest password.
But nowadays free wi-fi is becoming so common in towns and cities I doubt if anyone still does that.
And those who say you are trusting this woman with your parents, why not your Wi-Fi--why not put $500 out on the counter when she's there? There are different kinds of trust for different circumstances.
Seriously, look on it as high-falutin' electricity and relax.
I would have absolutely no problem giving a caregiver access to wifi. Yes, I would setup a guest network that isolates them from the primary network. But that's only because doing that takes about 5 seconds so why not? That way if they no need to come then I can change the password on the guest network without effecting the primary.
Why would they need internet access? Why not? I don't expect a caregiver to be eyeball to eyeball with the people they are caring for every second of the day. There's a lot of dead time between meeting needs. For the same reason, I wouldn't lock up the TV. As long as they are providing good care, I rather have happy caregiver instead of a bored one just watching the clock and waiting to leave.
(I subscribe to newspapers on-line - and find it is really irritating when I get stuck in a doctor's office for a long wait and can't access my email nor newspaper.)
She will sometimes facetime her sister with Mom who acts like a zombie unless she has guests. I have seen how she perks up and gets excited chatting. I walked in unexpectedly more than once to find her letting Mom facetime with my brother who lives in another state.
So the question really is, do you trust the caregiver with your parents' care? Are your parents happy with their care? If yes, trusting her with a wifi password is a given.
But be careful how you get rid of her so she doesnt cause you further problems.