Sometimes I Feel Like a Piece of Bologna

The Parent Conversation

A Newsweek article encourages Boomers to begin discussing care issues with their aging parents. According to an AARP survey,

nearly 70 percent of adult children have not talked to their parents about issues related to aging. Some children avoid this most intimate of conversations because they believe their parents don't want to talk. Others think they know what their parents want. And some simply don't want to face the very real truth that if you are lucky enough to have parents who live well into their senior years, chances are good that disease, injury, frailty, even loneliness, will affect a parent's well-being.

Dan Taylor has written an excellent book to promote this process. In “The Parent Care Conversation: Six Strategies for Dealing with the Emotional and Financial Challenges of Aging Parents” he discusses six types of conversations adult children need to have with their parents, and offers sample questions to get you started.

The Parent Care Conversation offers a step-by-step approach for families to follow that will enable them to develop workable plans of action. By first addressing the emotional aspects of long-term care that take into account the parents’ feelings and wishes, and then integrating the practical and financial components, this book can open the door for a critical exchange of information and honest discussion among adult children and their aging parents. Filled with factual information, useful tips, real-life stories, and practical exercises, The Parent Care Conversation provides a proactive and collaborative solution to the long-term care issues that eventually everyone must face.

Although I’ve had most of the conversations with my parents and have opened the door for any type of discussion, I appreciated his practical approach. And if it’s true that 70% of Boomers haven’t talked to their parents, this is a seriously needed book!

Labels: aging parents, Baby Boomers, sandwich generation