Aging Parents and the Holidays
The holidays may be one of the few times that you get together with your parents, especially if you have your own life and your own family. What you find may seem normal on the surface, but there may be chaos underneath.
This holiday season, take a few minutes to really evauate your parent’s situation. I remember one Christmas I found out that my 75-year-old mom had signed up to have the foundation of her house reinforced for earthquakes—just beause she was talked into it by a fast talking salesman. She was on the brink of spending her entire nest egg on something that she really didn’t need, and I had just found out by accident.
After a few quick calls to the salesman and his company, I was able to help my mom wriggle out of the contract. She ended up moving to a retirement home a few years later. But this incident served as my wakeup call that my services were needed in my aging parent’s life. My dad had died years earlier, and though my mom fiercely clung to independence, it was slowly slipping from her grasp.
So if I can be bold enough to post a message; When you visit your aging parent during the holidays, look carefully into their lives and their actions. Make sure that everything is going well. Make sure that their house is in order. Look deeply. Take off the glasses of your own denial.
If you suspect that something is awry, check out the dementia checklist at www.boomer-books.com There is a lot of helpful information posted there to help you enter the life of your aging parent.
There is also a great step-by-step book tiitled Helping Your Aging Parent—A Step-by-Step Guide That include a FREE CD ROM to help you to help your aging parent—should you need it. You can find out more about this unique book at http://www.boomer-books.com/bookstore/bookstore_hyap.html