Caring for Your Parent - The Child Becomes the Parent

It is a normal part of the cycle of life. The child grows up and becomes an adult. The adult takes care of their child and grows older and becomes a Senior Citizen. In a strange sort of role reversal, their child, now an adult, grows up to take care of their parent. And so it goes on.

Most of us were taught a certain responsibility by our parents. Included in that responsibility was a duty to the family to take care of each other. We all knew that, at some time or another, it may become necessary to care for a disabled sibling or parent. It is just part of the family unit and the member's responsibility to each other.

For most of us, we never really thought much about this. For most of us, we never found ourselves having to care for a sibling or parent - until now! Your parents are aging and you can see a slow but sure deterioration in their ability to get around easily. They may have difficulty seeing everything quite as well as they used to. Maybe, they cannot hear as well as they once did. Surely, they are not as active and limber, if not suffering from a real physical impairment. Such deterioration is a normal part of life and it will happen to all of us, sooner or later.

Hopefully, you can see the effects that lack of exercise and improper diet have had on your parents and that will provoke you to improve your personal life and prolong your years at the same time. It is truly amazing how much good a little exercise each day can do your your body. Don;t you wish that you had started earlier?

There are an increasing number of people who are also suffering from some loss of cognitive ability. In the earlier stages, this may just be as simple as being forgetful about things. All of us seem to get this to one degree or another. When this advances into dementia, the real cognitive problems begin and it must be treated accordingly. Before this progresses into full blown Alzheimer's Disease (AD), there are many new medical treatments and drugs that may slow down the progression of this disease.

As the son or daughter of a parent with cognitive problems, you will need to learn considerable patience to avoid letting your parent's condition eat you up alive! Your parent who has been kind and considerate toward you all of your life will suddenly seem incoherent and/or unreasonable in their demands and actions. Dad may have been a keen businessman in his day, but now, he can say and do the most preposterous things. The Mother who has always been the caring shoulder for you to cry on now may sob uncontrollably fro no reason. You will need a thick skin to deal with this.

Of course, you know that it is not your parent that is active that way! In fact, at times, they may seem perfectly normal and suddenly, as if pulling down a blind, they literally become a child requiring your immediate care and attention. This is a difficult time for you and, of course, you know it will not get any better.

When you are faced with such tremendous problems and responsibilities, be sure to seek the comfort of a local support group of people in similar circumstances. They will be able to help you deal with specific issues and to provide you the emotional support that you will certainly require.

May God bless you as you take on these responsibilities and may He help your siblings to also pitch in and help carry the load!

Resources: Don Seibert is a retired business executive who, as an Expert Author, writes timely articles on many issues concerning sources of retirement income. Having retired three times, he now is the host of http://www.RetireToEasyStreet.com - Visit the site for a complete discussion of Retirement Income Options

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