What is the best gift a mother (or father) could want?
When my kids were little, they used to have fun making me breakfast in bed. Yes, the toast and tea was cold. Yes, the honey was dripped over the floor. But, I really enjoyed seeing them take responsibility and “take care” of me for a day. When kids are adults, the best gift we can give our parents is probably not the cards, flowers, chocolates or promises we offer on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
These days, my best times with my own kids as well as with my mom are the conversations we have. Especially the ones that mean something. These are not always the most fun type of conversations to start. They can be a little scary. Yet, they always yield a deep reserve of goodwill, if handled with respect by listening with interest to each other or asking about some difficult topics.
As we age or as our parents age, there are many decisions and transitions. Some of these can be difficult to talk about with our families. Some of these decisions affect how our care at end of life might be handled. Since talking about death and dying is difficult, many of us wait until we are forced to confront it. At that point, it is often even more difficult and if we wait too long, our choices become limited.
The medical community in Contra Costa is sponsoring a free presentation (including lunch) on May 30th, 2014. This panel discussion with a number of community leaders is titled, “Conversations That Count”. The Contra Costa Conversation Project is a movement within our local community to encourage us to use some great tools to address the topic of death and dying with our loved ones. If you would like more information about the upcoming program, please send an email to info@ACEfiduciary.com to request information about how to sign up.
You can get an idea of how to start a conversation about aging transitions by clicking on the these titles to read a couple of our more popular blog articles “The Talk - Part 1" and “The Talk - Part 2".
If you do not have family nearby, or find it difficult to talk to your family about your needs related to your own aging or an aging parent, you can also call on a family moderator who has walked numerous clients through this process. If you would like information about our family moderator services, please send and email to info@ACEfiduciary.com with a little background about your family’s situation.
Question for Discussion: Have you had “The Talk” with your parents and/or adult children? How did it go? You can post your thoughts in the moderated comments section below.
