There are lots of resources available to assist individuals in caring for their elder parents, but perhaps the best source is your siblings and immediate family. Getting siblings to help will help form a bond between you and them, and hopefully take some of the pressure off of you.
Siblings already have a relationship with the parent
One advantage is that your siblings already have a relationship with your parent(s). Good or bad, both parties should generally know that to expect. While some siblings do not always have the smoothest parental relationships, it is still more of a relationship than a stranger has. Especially as parents get older, dealing with people they know is usually an advantage. Your parent will undoubtedly appreciate the assistance you are providing.
It will strengthen your relationship with your sibling
Siblings who become the sole caretaker for parents can feel overwhelmed and isolated. Siblings who live far away do not always realize the burden the caretaker sibling is carrying. Even if your assistance consists of weekly phone calls to your sibling, those phone calls show support and can truly help the caretaking sibling.
Helping care for an aging parent is an opportunity to strengthen sibling bonds that may have weakened because of time or distance. When your parents are gone, your siblings will become that much more important to you.
For more discussion on the topic, click here for recent article in Time magazine.
(photo: TimothyJ)
No related posts.
Randall Ryder is consumer rights attorney in Minnesota, where he suesabusive debt collectors and is a publisher of Elder Parent Help.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 0 comments… add one now }