Was Congress Trying to Bribe Seniors?

Not much help, so a bribe for votes? More here. What do you think?

Hard to Talk to Mom and Dad?

Have you tried to talk to your folks about their future and how you will be able to care for them as they age? Are you encountering resistance and denial? Are you the only one in your family who wants to face and plan for the future? Are you frustrated?

These are all typical emotions when we're dealing with the aging process. Some parents are fabulous: organized with their finances and their estate planning, even deciding to move to a retirement community and taking care of their funeral arrangements so their children don't have to worry.

Parents on the other extreme ignore everything. They don't draw up a will and plan to die quietly in their home. Like that's going to happen.

Most of our parents lie somewhere along the continuum of the extremes. Your parents may have drawn up a will and revocable living trust, but haven't fully faced the necessary issues of the challenges that can arise while they're ALIVE: declining health, Medicare and other necessary insurance, hospitalizations, nursing homes. All possibilities for each one of us.

Many families don't know what they don't know. That's where we come in. There are lots of free resources here at LoveYourParents.com to help you learn all you can about the aging process and how to help your folks prepare. Check out our archived articles on the topics most important to you now.

Feel free to email a question, and please be sure to sign up for our FREE Love Your Parents Newsletter coming out August 17. Each issue will be packed with tips and articles to help you love and care for your aging parents, preparing and encouraging you each step of the way. If you would like personalized advice and strategies, we offer consulting services as well, designed for the individual circumstances you personally face.

We're in this together: loving our parents and helping get them the best possible care through the end of their lives, overcoming the challenges and pitfalls we face today in an era of economic and healthcare crises.

But be encouraged: There is a traveled path for your journey and hope along the way.

Maybe Mom or Dad Shouldn't Move In!

You want to care for you Mom or Dad as they age. You think bringing them into your home may be the best solution.

For some families, three generations living together, if you still have children at home, can be a wonderful arrangement. We've talked about how that can work. Let's talk about when it can't.

Last week during an interview I was asked, "What happens when your spouse doesn't get along with your parents? How do you bring them into your home then?" Great question, simple answer: Maybe you don't.

First and foremost along this journey you want to protect your own nuclear family, your marriage and raising your children. If bringing Mom or Dad into your home is going to have a significantly negative impact on either relationship, and there's no way around that, counseling, strategies, etc., don't waste your time going there.

You still have a duty to your parents, in my opinion. But not to the point where you start risking your other family obligations. Your goal is to do the best caring and managing of your parents as you can in your particular circumstances. Marriage or kids, for me, is not an excuse to not do your best for your folks. It is a question of balance.

SOLUTIONS: Can Mom or Dad take out a reverse mortgage and live at home with caregivers that you oversee, perhaps together with your siblings, checking in on the situation consistently?

Can Mom or Dad sell their house and with the sales proceeds move into a great independent or assisted living facility close to you or your siblings, using the money from the sale of the house wisely. Remember, money goes very quickly in healthcare. There are resources here at loveyourparents.com about how to find a great assisted living facility.

The key is matching the right elder care strategies to your individual family circumstances. We're here to help!

There is Encouragement for Your Concerns

Are you stuck in a place where you are dealing with raising children, working, experiencing the joys and challenges of marriage and now your Mom or Dad has gotten sick? You may feel overwhelmed, a little scared, wondering how you are going to get through.

Having lived through the School of Heart Knocks caring for my mother with dementia through her death this spring, I'm here to tell you, you can do it. You can get through. If I can, you can. I can guide you through the journey with strategies that will help you limit the frustration, the fear and the overwhelm.

We will go through this journey together, I will be here by your side with heartfelt advice and strategies that will help you keep going as you do the most beautiful thing next to raising your children if you have them, by loving your parents.

You'll find answers to your concerns, and comfort for your journey here. Welcome to LoveYourParents.com!