Caring For Elderly Parents Is A Tough Job But Someone’s Gotta Do It

It can be difficult to deal with our parents – much less care for elderly parents – as they are getting older.

Watching our parents lose their independence as they age is one of the most challenging realities adult children face. Likewise, caring for elderly parents is never easy, but it must be done.

We’ve witnessed our parents’ decision making our whole lives. They always made important decisions for and about us, their children, as well as for themselves. When we see their decision-making abilities become impaired, it can be disconcerting.

One thing you can be certain of – no parent wants to be parented. This can make it tough to care for elderly parents.

In particular, mothers are accustomed to mothering not being mothered. So often we meet with resistance when we try to help our aging parents and that is usually the reason why. To a parent, their children are always their children and are the ones that need to be nurtured and helped.

Becoming a Caregiver

All too often when we as adult children step into the role of caregiver, we tend to over extend ourselves and become frustrated when our efforts aren’t fully appreciated by our parents. As the child now in the parenting role, we feel guilty when we admit exhaustion or when our parent’s demands fall outside of our abilities. We must admit when there are some things we simply cannot do even though we would like to do everything for them. As parents ourselves, even if we rarely doubt ourselves when making decisions for our own children, making decisions while caring for our parents remains inherently ambiguous.

When all is said and done, adult children who become caregivers for their parents have closed the circle of life. As we give, so we shall receive. And, like anything else in life, doing our best is all that can be expected. It’s tougher than caring for your own children. So, if you’re doing your best as your parent’s caregiver that’s absolutely good enough.

Looking to find an experienced estate lawyer in the Georgia area who is skilled in asset protection and estate plan preparation? Shannon Pawley is an attorney in Georgia with expertise in estate planning and asset protection. Shannon can provide assistance with creating an estate plan to include making a will and how to establish a trust properly. If you have questions about asset protection or questions about making an estate plan, reach out to Shannon and she will be glad to help answer all the estate planning questions you might have!