{"id":67873,"date":"2024-02-07T05:58:57","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T22:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alternatech.net\/?p=67873"},"modified":"2024-02-07T05:58:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T22:58:57","slug":"10-things-we-have-towards-our-parents-when-they-get-older","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/10-things-we-have-towards-our-parents-when-they-get-older\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things We Have Towards Our Parents When They Get Older"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style='\"font-size:'><strong>1. Treat them with dignity and respect\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>First and foremost, treat your parents with the dignity and respect that they deserve. Nearly everything that follows below embodies that duty, but it\u2019s so important that it needs to be clearly stated upfront. Every single person on this earth, from the very young to the very old, deserves to be treated with dignity. While respect, on the other hand, is something that should be earned rather than given freely, I think we can all agree that our parents have more than earned it.\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>2. Don\u2019t treat them like children\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>In our society, we tend to treat our elderly like children. If you don\u2019t believe me, the next time you go shopping or to a restaurant, pay attention to how clerks and servers talk to toddlers. Then, listen to the tone they use with elders. All too often, you\u2019ll find that it\u2019s the exact same tone.\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>3. Listen to them\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Your parents spent, at a minimum, 18 years listening to you (although probably way beyond that). They patiently answered your 10,000 <strong>\u201cwhy\u201d questions when you were a toddler. They showed genuine interest in your utterly fascinating story about a bug you saw on the playground in kindergarten. During your teen years, they listened to you complain (and complain and complain) about everything from unfair teachers to unjust curfews.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Now, it\u2019s your turn to listen to them. Yes, even if they tell you the same story over and over. After all, how many times did they have to hear about that playground bug?\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>4. Make time for them\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>We get so busy in our adult lives that we often forget to call home, much less visit regularly. It happens, and it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re a bad son or daughter. Your parents know that you have a <strong>\u201clife of your own\u201d now. Shouldn\u2019t that life include them more, though?\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>For every time they smile and say, <strong>\u201cIt\u2019s okay, honey\u201d when you forget their birthday or call late on Mother\u2019s Day, they\u2019re secretly crying inside. We owe our parents time. After all, they gave us nearly every moment of theirs for most of our lives.\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>5. Advocate for them\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>From speaking up when a doctor brushes your mom\u2019s medical concerns off as <strong>\u201cjust part of aging\u201d to voting for candidates that protect the elderly\u2019s interest, advocating basically means standing up for your parents. Remember all those times they stood up for you- to unfair teachers, to bullies, to doctors who blew off your symptoms as \u201cjust part of growing up.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>If your parents are unable (or unwilling because of the generation they grew up in) to stand up for their own rights, do it for them. The older they get, the more they\u2019ll need you to be their advocate. Parents with dementia especially need you to do this, as their voices tend to get<strong> \u201clost\u201d the most.\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>6. Learn from them\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>As far as duties to our parents when they get older go, this one is truly a win-win-win situation. Your parents will love spending time with you. They <strong>\u201cwin\u201d because they get to teach you secret family recipes, share stories from their past, and just pass on their wisdom. You <strong>\u201cwin\u201d because you\u2019ll have no regrets when they\u2019re gone. You won\u2019t be kicking yourself for not asking mom how to make her famous sauce or asking dad about his time in the war. Your children and every generation that comes after <strong>\u201cwins\u201d because they\u2019ll feel more connected to their family history.\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>7. Teach them\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>The flip side of learning from them is, of course, teaching them. We have this misconception that the elderly are like old dogs, in that they can\u2019t learn new <strong>\u201ctricks.\u201d Everyone jokes about older people and technology.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Rather than turning grandpa\u2019s lack of Skype abilities into family holiday joke fodder, teach him how to use it. He wants to learn. He wants to keep up with your generation and feel a connection to your passions. Just remember, be patient. He was patient when you were learning how to ride a bike\u2026or worse, drive his car!\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>8. Make sure they have a place to call home\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Out of all the duties we\u2019ve discussed, this is really the only one of a financial nature. However, it\u2019s also among the most important. While we\u2019re not legally obligated to house our parents when they get older, we definitely have a moral obligation to make sure they\u2019re not homeless. If that means letting them live with us, so be it. If they choose to live in a retirement community or nursing home, your job isn\u2019t done. A home is more than just a roof over their head. They deserve a place that\u2019s comfortable and that treats them well.\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>9. Learning and respecting their wishes\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>One of the hardest duties that we have towards our parents when they get older is the one that comes near the end- respecting their wishes and letting them go when they ask us to. Hopefully, that\u2019s still a long way off. For now, your duty is to sit down and have an honest talk with them to find out what those wishes are. Please don\u2019t put it off. It\u2019s a tough topic, I know, but it is far better to discuss it now than try to make a purely emotional decision later.\n<p><strong><span style='\"font-size:'>10. Don\u2019t hold it over their heads when we help them\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Last, but far from least, you must live up to all the above obligations without holding it over your parents\u2019 heads. Don\u2019t constantly remind them how much you\u2019re sacrificing by letting them live with you. Don\u2019t act smug or superior when you teach them something new.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Most importantly of all, though, don\u2019t treat them like you\u2019re doing these things for them because you feel like you have to. Our parents when they get older aren\u2019t <strong>\u201cobligations.\u201d They\u2019re the people who raised us and sacrificed for us. We <strong>\u201cowe\u201d them everything. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, <strong>\u201cBeautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.\u201d\n<h4><span style='\"font-size:' color:>Let\u2019s treat them like the treasures and works of art that they are.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. Treat them with dignity and respect First and foremost, treat your parents with the dignity and respect that they deserve. Nearly everything that follows below embodies that duty, but it\u2019s so important that it needs to be clearly stated upfront. Every single person on this earth, from the very young to the very old,\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":67874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Most importantly of all, though, don\u2019t treat them like you\u2019re doing these things for them because you feel like you have to...","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-67873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moral-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/10-Things-We-Have-Towards-Our-Parents-When-They-Get-Older.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p></span></h4></strong></strong></strong></span></p></span></p></span></strong></p></span></p></span></strong></p></span></p></span></strong></p></span></p></strong></span></p></span></strong></p></strong></strong></strong></span></p></span></strong></p></strong></span></p></strong></span></p></span></strong></p></strong></span></p></strong></span></p></span></strong></p></span></p></strong></span></p></span></strong></p></span></p></span></strong></p></span></p></strong></span></p>