FIL and MIL and how we got her cooking

My father in law passed away in December 2012.  He was diagnosed with Parkinson's 6 years earlier.  In the six years before he passed away, he deteriorated so much.  There were so many falls and spills.  Aggression form the tablets.  It was a hard time.  Toward the end, about 3 months before he died he was diagnosed with PSP disease. It is common for PSP to be incorrectly diagnosed as Parkinson's in the early stages.

The last 2 months of FIL's life was hard, and it was sad and insane to see such a strong man with such a HUGE presence wilt away like he did. He spent the last little bit of his time in a home that caters for people who needs frail care.  Those kind of places scare me and makes me insanely sad, and makes me think of my gran! I hated every time we went to visit, but I did it for Klaus and for Kai. Though FIL hardly recognised his kids, he always knew who Kai was and always wanted to hold him, and have him close. He would sit and stare at him for ages.  He wrote him a letter too.  I hope my mother in law kept it.

The last time I saw FIL was on my Birthday 2 December 2012, I am so glad we went there and Klaus got to spend time with him and got to say good bye. He was admitted to hospital on Monday 3 December, on Tuesday morning he died, he went so quick no one made it to the hospital in time.

After  he passed away, I was concerned about my MIL and her eating habits, and if she will take care of herself, she is diabetic and needs to keep eating healthily.  I suggested to Klaus we ask her to cook for us 2 / 3 times a week! That would encourage her to cook a meal at least twice a week, and because she cares about Kai so much, she will make an effort to make it hearty and healthy!  Its great! A total win win. She chooses the days, sometimes it only happens once a week, mostly it is 3 times.  Klaus goes after work and pics up a nice healthy home cooked meal.

We pay her for it, which also helps her out financially a little bit.  Most of the meals she cooks is covered in total by what we pay her.

She eats healthy, is forced to cook and look after herself, she gets paid to do something she would be doing anyway.  We get 2/3 nights a week off from cooking.  (Working parents with a 2 year old! Every bit helps).

It works.
Think about it.