COPING WITH AGING PARENTS

Coping with parents who are getting older and have difficulties getting around can be a challenge when you, yourself, are middle-aged. You may have to drive them to their doctor appointments, get their prescriptions filled, or take them to the hospital for emergencies plus handle a full-time career. Also, you may have grandchildren you have to babysit. Other middle-aged adults have their parents living with them. In that case, you may rarely get a break. In my autobiographical novel, Photographs and Memories, I discuss Angela's responsibilities in putting her parents in nursing homes plus getting alcohol treatment for her younger sister, Martha. Some adults have the full responsibility of taking care of their parents because their siblings are either unable to or wish not to be burdened with that problem. This is the case in Photographs and Memories.