aging parents

Toxic Parents and Adult Children

It’s the luck of the draw as to which childhood any of us inherit. Sometimes it’s filled with toxic parents who leave abusive tattoos that last a lifetime. Remarkably, they wind up under our care with the same bag of…

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Poetry and Aging Parents, Part 4

Adult children live in a bittersweet world of loss and gratitude regarding aging parents. Barbara Crooker’s poem All Saints Day captures this emotional mixture as it attends her mother’s leaving… All Saints Day By Barbara Crooker It’s one day past…

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The Art of Holding Space…

The Art of Holding Space…
Heather Plett’s insightful and moving article on holding space, What is means to “hold space” for people, plus eight tips on how to do it well, is a primer on the dance of compassion for those who are leaving as…

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Honor Their Words…

Honor Their Words…
At some point you have to be their voice. No one else can do it. This article by Dr. Mikkael Sekeres director of the leukemia program at the Cleveland Clinic reminds us that we are called to honor the words…

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No Longer Safe To Drive

At some point it becomes painfully obvious. Maybe it’s the near misses, another fender bender, traffic tickets, getting lost on errands, poor night vision, or increasing confusion. Whatever the mix of warning signs, the message is clear and deeply concerning.…

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When Everything Falls Apart

Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity…….Socrates The world of aging parents is a complex system. This is not simply a scientific observation; it is a critical…

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Poetry and Aging Parents, Part 3

The loss of an aging parent is not an isolated event. Rather, their passing is part of the thinning social fabric of middle age and beyond. Siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins friends, associates and casual acquaintances all start to take their…

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Conversations at the End…

We wish it didn’t come to this, but it does. Someone you care about is at the end of their life. No one knows exactly when but everyone is clear about what’s happening. Now comes the hard part, the conversations…

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Dearest Son, Dearest Daughter…

I wrote How To Say It To Seniors for adult children of aging parents as well as professionals who work with older adults. In retrospect, that was short sighted. What I failed to appreciate was that older adults were deeply…

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