Parenting Our Parents: Transforming the Challenge into a Journey of Love

More than ever, people are living longer, and adult children are thrust into the role of parent to their own parents. This work provides new tools and positivity for the 75 million Americans struggling with how to respond to the practical and emotional challenges of suddenly being in charge of aging or ailing parents.

ISBN-13: 9781538174180

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers - Inc.

Publication Date: 09-15-2022

Pages: 338

Product Dimensions: 5.59(w) x 8.33(h) x 0.73(d)

Jane Wolf Frances, MSW, JD, Master POP (ParentingOurParents) Family Coach has counseled thousands of families to successfully resolve their life cycle challenges - emotional, legal and practical. Now she shares her own solo journey and the solutions she found, both personal and in building community. In addition to writing this book, she’s published articles in the California Bar Journal, in legal and drug abuse professional periodicals and a chapter in a book on what constitutes “success.” She has a well-read blog for over 5 years at www.ParentingOurParents.org.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Why I Wrote This Book 1 Finding Out Our Parents Need Someone to Help Them 2 Choosing POP—or Not 3 Entering POP in the Middle of a Crisis 4 Learning More Than We Wanted to Know: Our Parents’ Financial, Health, Legal, Spiritual, and Other Issues 5 Doing and Undoing Paperwork: Making Our Parents Safer and Part of the Twenty-First Century 6 Facing Down the Life-and-Death Mission of POP—Theirs and Yours 7 Discovering Our Parents May Need to Leave Home 8 Finding the Best Fit for Our Parents’ New Home 9 Dealing with All Our Parents’ Stuff 10 Settling Our Parents into Their New Lives 11 Trying to Make a Permanent POPlan: Do You Want to See God Laugh? 12 Expecting the Unexpected When We’re Doing POP 13 Turning POP into Our Giant Do-Over: Forgiveness, Compassion, and Gratitude Fill the Space 14 Waiting as Our Parents Become Frailer, Weaker, Smaller, and Maybe Worse 15 Doing the Only Thing Left: Comfort-Filling Your Parents 16 Letting Go of the Beloved Parents We’ve Parented 17 When POP Is Over and We Need to Launch Our New Lives Epilogue: Where Do We All Go from Here? Notes Acknowledgments Suggested Reading Index About the Author Show More