Parenting Aging Parents

Gently pulling up the blanket, she looks at the peaceful sleeping face. Oh the times we spent making clover chains in the park. And the tea parties that gave way to sleepovers were no less memorable than the annual holiday cookie baking weekends. You remember the good ole days while I have to remember the endless details to get through today. You are still my mother, but now I am your mother too.

Among the 8.9 million family caregivers of older adults, 59–75% are women (National Alliance for Caregiving, 2004). Half of those women are adult daughters and daughter-in-laws, but primarily daughters who range in age from 40-64 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2002). During the middle to pre-retirement years, the caregiving daughter is often raising her children and launching them onto college or career. At the same time, most caregiving daughters are married and many continue to work outside the home. She understands the term, “sandwich generation,” being caught between the demands of wife, mother, employee, and parent to an aging parent.

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