Honoring Aging Parents ― How to Grow Up When Mom and Dad Grow Old

As our parents age and become unable to care for themselves, a growing reality for adults today is transitioning our parents from independence to dependent living. This challenges our maturity and character, resulting in frustration for everyone involved. Honoring Aging Parents helps anticipate and alleviate emotional turmoil with real-life examples that stick in readers’ minds and that help understand normal responses of both caregivers and parents. Honoring Aging Parents helps eliminate feelings of anxiety and isolation due to our parents’ aging by addressing the normal responses involved. Authors Klaus Dannenberg and Bruce Black provide insights into these situations, including the mix of emotions encountered, a financial assessment, a summary of options, and prompts for tough conversations with both parents and siblings. They discuss the transition into a caregiving role and the challenges created by dependent living—not just medical issues but the associated emotional roller coaster. Dannenberg and Black also confront tough subjects like the loss of a parent’s mental faculties and preparing for the end. In hindsight, they relate the unexpected growth and contentment discovered throughout this process.