aging parents is not having aging parents.”
downsizing and real estate service for seniors and their family
caregivers – I often chat with family caregivers who are trying to
figure out how to talk with their aging parents and make them aware
that their safety is at risk; that they need help with day-to-day
living or may even need to downsize and move to a more supervised situation,
pointed out for me the importance of older adults acting proactively
and discussing the issue with their adult children before the kids
must address it with their parents. This is a huge and important
point for aging Indianapolis seniors to consider.
older adults call this “Having the Talk.” Of course, it usually
refers to adult kids talking with their aging parents. But how much
better it would be for seniors (or boomers who are aging) to discuss
this with their kids before it is necessary.
recently by David Solie, a senior expert and author of the book “How
to Say it to Seniors.” Mr. Solie posted this on his Facebook page
in mid-December 2014:
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
interested in the psychology of their stage of life. They bristled
against simply being a project or problem for their children to
figure out.
giving copies of the book to older adults along with a simple
question. “Does this ring true to what you are experiencing?”
copies of the book with highlighted sections were being passed
“downstream” from aging parents to their adult children. “This
is what you need to know about me” was the message, which brings me
to Dr. Herb Randall.
he wrote his son and daughter after reading the book. It began
“Dearest Son, Dearest Daughter,” and was an elegant and moving
“what you need to know about me” communication between
generations. It was published this year in Seniors Connections.
talk” isn’t simply about conversing upstream to a passive
generation. Given the right information and environment, the
downstream channel is just as important and available.”