Hi everyone!
If you aren't already on your way home, I know you're thinking about it! I want to pose a challenge to you all while you spend time with family, and most likely some older adults. Please use the comments to post your answers/experiences to the following:
1.) How has this course changed the way you view some of the older adults in your life? Are there any aspects of later life that you are now noticing that you hadn't before?
2.) Talk to someone who fits in the "adult in later life" category about at least one of the following: their view on getting older, how they see their social life, their plans for extended care, etc.
3.) Discuss some of the issues in later life that we have talked about in class with someone you would not classify as in later life themselves. How might their thoughts be different from what we've discussed in class?
I'll work on these as well and report back with my experiences.
Have a great break!
Megan
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Caregiving for adults in Later Life
I was very intrigued by the article discussing how caregiving responsibilities are divided based on income and work hours. It makes a lot of sense to me that those who work more would be more willing to provide financial assistance, regardless of whether or not they can provide the unpaid assistance.
In my own experience, I have seen my mother-in-law (Lindy) take care of her mother-in-law (Pat) when Pat had a stroke. I remember being surprised that Lindy was doing most of the caretaking rather than Pat's own children, of which she does have daughters. There are various complications within the family that make things a little more muddled than I can explain here, but Lindy's caregiving shows both the role of women as kinkeepers in families as well as the heavier burden that weighs upon women when dealing with care of older adults.
On my mother's side of the family, my grandparents have struggled off and on with health concerns, both mental and physical. My mother is one of 5 living siblings (my uncle passed away a number of years ago) who have somewhat arranged rotating care for my grandparents. The 3 female children (my mother and 2 aunts) have dealt more with the living arrangements and things, while one of my uncles has taken over some of the financial arrangements for my grandparents. Some of the issues they encounter are geographic in nature. Only 2 of the 5 children live in the same state as my grandparents, making caregiving arrangements rather difficult at times. As a result, my grandparents moved to an assisted living facility only a few minutes away from one of my aunts. This is great for my grandparents, but I can see this being difficult for my aunt and her family because she has children in elementary through high school ages. It is definitely an issue that comes up frequently and has cause all of the siblings to communicate with each other more frequently.
In my own experience, I have seen my mother-in-law (Lindy) take care of her mother-in-law (Pat) when Pat had a stroke. I remember being surprised that Lindy was doing most of the caretaking rather than Pat's own children, of which she does have daughters. There are various complications within the family that make things a little more muddled than I can explain here, but Lindy's caregiving shows both the role of women as kinkeepers in families as well as the heavier burden that weighs upon women when dealing with care of older adults.
On my mother's side of the family, my grandparents have struggled off and on with health concerns, both mental and physical. My mother is one of 5 living siblings (my uncle passed away a number of years ago) who have somewhat arranged rotating care for my grandparents. The 3 female children (my mother and 2 aunts) have dealt more with the living arrangements and things, while one of my uncles has taken over some of the financial arrangements for my grandparents. Some of the issues they encounter are geographic in nature. Only 2 of the 5 children live in the same state as my grandparents, making caregiving arrangements rather difficult at times. As a result, my grandparents moved to an assisted living facility only a few minutes away from one of my aunts. This is great for my grandparents, but I can see this being difficult for my aunt and her family because she has children in elementary through high school ages. It is definitely an issue that comes up frequently and has cause all of the siblings to communicate with each other more frequently.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Parent and Adult Child Relationships
I found that I ended up being a bit more nervous than expected to present last week for class, but I really enjoyed discussing the topic. I think this is an especially interesting relationship to examine, since many of us will soon be approaching this stage as our parents get closer to later life as well.
Just like any relationship we've discussed, communication is so important. Because of the transitional nature of this period for both parents and children, it is crucial to keep the lines of communication open so that you can work through these changes together and have a good idea about how the other person is doing in their own transition.
I also think that this time is similar to some of the struggles encountered during adolescence. The issue of independence comes up in both sets of relationships, with adolescence being the beginning of independence assertion, and the parent-adult child relationship showing the realization of that independence. In both cases, parents are in a position where they have to begin to adjust to their child's growing autonomy and how that may change the nature of their relationship with their child.
I hope you all at least moderately enjoyed the discussion/activities, and I'll see you later this week!
Megan
Just like any relationship we've discussed, communication is so important. Because of the transitional nature of this period for both parents and children, it is crucial to keep the lines of communication open so that you can work through these changes together and have a good idea about how the other person is doing in their own transition.
I also think that this time is similar to some of the struggles encountered during adolescence. The issue of independence comes up in both sets of relationships, with adolescence being the beginning of independence assertion, and the parent-adult child relationship showing the realization of that independence. In both cases, parents are in a position where they have to begin to adjust to their child's growing autonomy and how that may change the nature of their relationship with their child.
I hope you all at least moderately enjoyed the discussion/activities, and I'll see you later this week!
Megan
It's Still Complicated
So thinking again about the movie "It's Complicated", Meryl Streep's character "Jane" goes through a lot of the issues that we have touched upon in class. Although fictional, it was still beneficial to see how some of these scenarios can potentially play out in someone's life and in all the complicated situations that may occur.
Launching: This is brought up right away, as Jane prepares to send off her youngest child to college. We see her spend her first nights alone in the house, and how that stirs up conflicting emotions for her.
Career Divorced: Jane has been divorced for 10 years, and sees herself as somewhat significantly tied to that identity. She has gone through a lot of self-discovery and come to terms with the end of her marriage but without entering any additional marriages.
Jake, Alec Baldwin's character, is also addressing some issues that we encountered in class.
Multiple family stages: Jake is launching his youngest child from his first marriage with Jane, while also dealing with the pre-school stage in his new family unit. As he considers having another child with his new wife, Jake almost re-enters the infant stage of parenting and family life. As we can see through this example, going through the different stages is not necessarily linear in nature, especially with the creation of new families through divorce and remarriage.
There are many other sub-plots and examples of topics from class, but these have been the ones that stuck out the most for me personally.
Launching: This is brought up right away, as Jane prepares to send off her youngest child to college. We see her spend her first nights alone in the house, and how that stirs up conflicting emotions for her.
Career Divorced: Jane has been divorced for 10 years, and sees herself as somewhat significantly tied to that identity. She has gone through a lot of self-discovery and come to terms with the end of her marriage but without entering any additional marriages.
Jake, Alec Baldwin's character, is also addressing some issues that we encountered in class.
Multiple family stages: Jake is launching his youngest child from his first marriage with Jane, while also dealing with the pre-school stage in his new family unit. As he considers having another child with his new wife, Jake almost re-enters the infant stage of parenting and family life. As we can see through this example, going through the different stages is not necessarily linear in nature, especially with the creation of new families through divorce and remarriage.
There are many other sub-plots and examples of topics from class, but these have been the ones that stuck out the most for me personally.
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