Planning Dilemmas Archives - Aging, caregiving and the journey through the second half of life

Read The Dilemma Card Once A Week…

January 8, 2019

You can’t manage dilemmas with problem solving strategies `Dilemmas show up and have no intention of leaving Key blog posts about dilemmas: The Unavoidable Dilemmas of the Last Phase of Life The Rise of Dilemmas Problems Versus Dilemmas of Aging…

Another Caregiver Dilemma: Aging Parent Kicked Out Of Assisted Living Residence

September 20, 2018

Fact: Caregiving dilemmas beget new caregiving dilemmas. Just when you have succeeded in placing an aging parent in an assisted living residence and things are working out, a change in “health status” suddenly disqualifies him or her from staying there. …

Quick Start: 6 Tips for Talking With Aging Parents About Senior Care

September 13, 2018

If your’re unsure how to initiate this delicate conversation with your aging parents, this new article from Benchmark Senior Living, is a “quick start” based on my work and experience in communicating with olde adults. It offers an overarching view…

Healthy Eighty-Something Parents Don’t Want To Talk About It

August 27, 2018

Of course the “it” is about moving at some point out of their home. The adult children want to get a head star at investigation senior living options with their parents before new accommodations are actually needed, But attempts to…

Communicating Tough Choices. Booklet (pdf)

June 6, 2018

Introduction At some point in the lives of our aging parents things slip out of control. It may be a subtle change over time that finally becomes unmanageable or the sudden arrival of a medical setback. As much as we…

Disclosure for Adult Children

April 16, 2018

I receive a steady flow of inquires from adult children about what the future holds for them and their aging parents. Most of them sense some sort of tipping point is near and with it a turn of events where…

The Unavoidable Dilemmas of the Last Phase of Life

January 9, 2018

Dilemmas are messy, confusing, threatening, no-win situations where choices have to be made. Dilemmas dominate the last phase of life and extract a heavy toll on the entire family. The link below offers a short summary of the important differences…

Functional Ability is Destiny at the End

October 17, 2017

This important article by Dr. Dhruv Khullar in the New York Times offers new insights from data mining about a critical tipping point for older adults who drift beyond having chronic illnesses to also developing functional ability deficits. This lethal…

Sibling Conflict Over Money: Caregiving and Inheritance

August 12, 2017

This article by Alessandra Malito for Market Watch offers important insights into why the majority of parents do not reveal to their children the the details of their inheritance. As important, it describes the assumptions and attitude of siblings towards…

How to Communicate with Aging Parents about Money

July 25, 2017

Older adults have a deep resistance to having conversations with their adult children about money. Why? It arises from three psychological factors that coalesce in last phase of life to create resistive barriers to open discussions about financial issues. These…