Monday, August 29, 2011

How Can I Help Mom and Dad If I Live Out of Town?

In today’s mobile society, many adult children are living in another state while trying to assist their elderly parents. They have the same kinds of questions about how to help their parents that children living in the same area as their parents have. It is just more difficult for them to manage the details of long distance care taking. An excellent resource for care giving children is “How to Care for Aging Parents” by Virginia Morris, published by Workman Publishing. Not only does this book contain many helpful ideas about taking care of aging parents, it also reminds the Baby Boomer children who are trying to help that they need to take care of themselves too. It is a wonderful resource that addresses many of the questions that adult children have about the aging process, how to talk to their parents, how to adapt to new roles, what resources there are, and understanding medical, financial, housing, emotional and practical issues. As elder law attorneys helping clients with the legal aspects of their personal affairs, we often recommend that our clients’ children whether they live in town or out of town read this book to help them with the practical matters that come up.