They’re getting old, too: Parenting a parent

AS time flies by, we get older and while we remain well-familiar with our growth, there are times when we tend to forget that our parents are also growing old. 

Whether it’s through entering your teenage years or adulthood, getting on the stage when your hair starts to turn gray or when your back starts to ache–is something that people will come to experience for the first time.

In the case of the parents of this generations’ young adults, most of them are already on this path. 

Getting older

If there’s something that all of us cannot avoid, it is the inability of having to pause time from running. Aging is something that we’ll all get to experience in our lifetime and while each stages has their own unique physical, mental, and emotional transitions, at the end of the day, these stages will all be a first to us. 

For older adults, one of the stages that they’ve come or yet to encounter is midlife crisis. 

According to an article by Healthline, midlife crisis is where you’ll start to feel certain that your best years are behind you. By having to feel this, you are left with the feeling where there’s nothing to look forward into but long uneventful days. 

This is when most people face existential concerns and where people come with “the realization that their life has taken a different shape than from what they have envisioned.”

While midlife crisis is when emotions are often affected, entering the senior phase is when physical changes affect the well-being of our elder parents.  

Change is inevitable, and while the idea of going to this phase is already stressful enough for our aging parent, there are some ways on how we’ll be able to look after them: 

Visit them 

Adulthood is equal to having a lot of responsibilities and because of our daily workloads, more often than not, we are left with little to no time to spend with are loved ones let alone a time to take care of ourselves.  

We may be busy throughout the weekdays but we can always use the weekend to visit and check on them.  

Spend quality time with your parents as you recharge yourself for the week, not only will yourself relaxing, you’ll also have the time to catch up with your mom and pop.

Show that you care 

It doesn’t take long to send someone a message with the intention of checking up on them. A simple “how are you?” can always be enough to check on your parents to see how they’re doing.

But if you happen to be someone who wants to make it a little extra, a kind gesture such as taking them to dinner or buying them a token can also be a way to show them that you remember them.

Doing simple things such as reminding them to take their medication, spending time with them on the weekends, and saying “I love you,” are also some ways to make them feel that they are cared about. 

Sometimes, it’s the little things that matters. 

Be patient

Going through a lot of changes is stressful and one thing that most of us tend to forget is that none of the changes that a person goes through is easy. 

Being compassionate toward your aging parents helps a lot when it comes to not losing your patience. But before we proceed to being compassionate towards them, we first need to accept that things have changed. 

The roles have switched and it’s no longer us who’s being taken cared of. While these changes might be seen as somewhat of an inconvenience for us, we must remind ourselves that they are the ones who are experiencing these changes, not us. 

They’ve been patient to us when we first entered our teenage years until we transitioned to adulthood, and now that they’re experiencing more things than ever, remember that it’s also their first time experiencing this as well.