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December 18, 2012 at 08:10 AM
When faced with an aging parent with declining functional or cognitive abilities, children may find themselves with a number of questions and decisions.
What type of care does mom or dad need? What financial resources are available to meet her/his care needs? What’s the most cost effective way to manage those resources?
Can the level of care be accomplished in their home; or has the time come to think about assisted living or even a nursing home?
Another option to consider is to bring a parent into your own home.
None of these decisions are easy and take considerable thought, planning and family discussion.
This past March marked 29 years that my mother-in-law has lived with my wife and me. That’s correct. I have lived with my mother-in-law for almost three decades! I have been called both crazy and a saint.
As a widow in her mid 60s and living close by, it made perfect sense to the three of us to bring the two households together.
For my mother-in-law, she no longer had to worry about caring for a house and being alone.
For us, we had a built-in babysitter for our two young sons and someone who could run some errands as we were both building our careers.
Though clearly more of a win for us at that time, my wife and I had no delusions that someday the tables of dependency would turn.
Having a parent/grandparent in the house can be both a challenge and a blessing.
