My parents are 57 and 63. My mother is erratic, forgetful, and when she gets mad she sometimes screams and throws things. My father is slowly going deaf, getting slower and more stubborn and forgetful as well. They can be infuriating sometimes, but I know that they’re aging and I can’t be mad at them. How do I deal with this, especially early on in preparation for further down the road?
Aging seems to have a backwards effect. Elderly act more childish the older they get.
So try to think about how frustrated they may have been with you when you were a child. Now its like the roles are reversed. Its up to you to take care of them, to pay them back for the care they gave you, as it were.
Or, instead of the progeny taking care of parents, professionals could.
Yeah, if they can afford it. Personally, I feel that not taking care of your parents is disrespectful if you have the money and capacity to do so, but there is nothing wrong with paying professionals. But that is pretty expensive in my area. I feel the same way with parents who are entirely absent from their childs lives, keeping them in a daycare or under a nanny or even home alone at all times.
Extremely relevant Steve Hoffstetter: https://youtube.com/shorts/TPb7pd4UnXo?si=sYifsgGWAiYea5M3
Well you’re either too busy to take care of your parents because you have to make the money to look after them and so you pay for a professional
Or your too busy to take care of your parents because you have to work to make money in order to barely keep a roof over your head and still can’t afford to help them.
Pick one.
I’d rather a mix of both. Most affordable homes suck (my mom’s getting there so I’ve been doing some precursory looking), so I’d rather have my mom living with my wife and I and having a nurse (nanny if you will) do the routine functions when that time comes.