A quick update, because I have not visited my parents all week. We’ve talked on the phone and chatted via email, but I need use care and not to make Dad feel too much pressure. He is an eager learner, but not quite at the speed that I would like him to move. As a teacher, … Continue reading
Filed under Seniors and Lifelong Learning …
More on the National Library of Medicine: for Boomers and Aging Parents
In my last post I wrote about the tutorial at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) designed to help people learn how to evaluate health information on the web. NLM, one of 27 institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health, provides much more on its website, information that is especially useful to families seeking … Continue reading
Aging Parents, Adult Children, Everyone: Evaluating Web Health Info
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) web site features a medical research user’s guide, Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine, with step-by-step techniques to ensure that the information you discover is good and reliable. The narrator speaks slowly and clearly. A link at the end takes the user to a … Continue reading
iPad for Dad, #3 – After the First Lessons
If you like this post, read some of the other descriptions of our Father/Daughter iPad for Dad adventures — iPad for Dad, #1, iPad for Dad, #2, iPad for Dad, #3, iPad for Dad, #4, iPad for Dad, #5, iPad for Dad, #6, iPad for Dad, #7, iPad for Dad, #8, iPad for Dad, #9, iPad for Dad, #10, iPad for Dad, #11, iPad … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Facebook Privacy Settings
My mother and a lot of her friends, including many seniors, are on Facebook. Recently I checked her account and discovered that she did not have the privacy settings adjusted appropriately. Too much information was available to too many people whom she did not know. So we went through the settings at Account-Privacy Settings (top … Continue reading
iPad for Dad, #2 – Getting Started
I took the iPad to my parents’ house on Monday. I live about 100 miles away, so Dad and I worked together exploring the iPad while keeping in mind that we will be apart for a couple of weeks. Of course I will provide technical help by phone. He is intrigued and interested and tried most of … Continue reading
iPad for Dad, #1 – Getting the iPad Ready for Dad
If you like this post, read some of the other descriptions of our Father/Daughter iPad for Dad adventures — iPad for Dad, #1, iPad for Dad, #2, iPad for Dad, #3, iPad for Dad, #4, iPad for Dad, #5, iPad for Dad, #6, iPad for Dad, #7, iPad for Dad, #8, iPad for Dad, #9, iPad for Dad, #10, iPad for Dad, #11, iPad … Continue reading
Aging Parent Technology: American Memory Project
@ the Library of Congress Take parents who like to use the Internet, are interested in history, and have lots of memories from earlier times in their lives, on a visit the American Memory Project. This amazing site at the Library of Congress has digitized exhibits — pictures, postcards, letters and music, and much more. … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Recognizing Social Wisdom
Assisting parents with their health and other issues often keeps us focused on difficulties, so it is easy to forget just how much experience older parents have with the game of life. Now research from the University of Michigan’s Culture and Cognition Program published in the April 6, 2010 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Explaining Congestive Heart Failure
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a common diagnosis for seniors, and many of us will have more than one aging parents with this condition. The diagnosis, indicating a progressive disease, often requires multi-year medial care and can require invasive cardiac procedures, many medications, lifestyle and diet changes, and medical supplies such as compression stockings which … Continue reading
Software Reference Guides for Aging Parents and Aging Children
Check out the Custom Guide website for a large number of free “how to” software documents, many in pdf (this means easy to download and open) format. Reference tutorial sheets are available for most of the Microsoft Office programs, for PC and Mac operating systems, and for a number of other software programs. Older versions … Continue reading
Aging Parents, Boomer Children, Lifelong Learning – TED
I am planning to share a site that features lots of intellectual content with my 86-year-old father, a retired college professor and minister, the next time I visit. During the past several months an occasional posting on this blog has linked to a video presentation on the TED site. This organization, devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading,” … Continue reading
Update on My Parents’ Blog
My parents worked hard to figure out (outwit?) the eccentricities of the Blogger site, and they managed to get their new blog up and running. They only needed a bit of help from me. I have made a mental note to think about writing some technology tutorials and attaching them to a technology tutorial posting … Continue reading
Aging and Middle Age Brain Health
Why we need to exercise … and don’t need a lot of those other products on the market… I am so tired of television, magazine, and catalog ads selling brain improvement products — to seniors as well as to people my age. They are starting to arrive regularly in my mailbox, and TV is an … Continue reading
Google Buzz and Gmail: Heads Up for Seniors and Everyone Else
If you or your parents use Gmail, as we do, be alert for the new Google Buzz. It is easy to check your e-mail and suddenly find yourself connected into Buzz, and right now if this happens there is almost no privacy. This is a newfangled social networking platform like Facebook or MySpace, but it … Continue reading
My Parent’s Blog – Seniors and Blogs
Wow! Technology never stops. This morning my parents, age 86 and 82, told me that they went to Google and started a blog. This is the coolest thing because they love to write and they love their computers. Also they have lots of great opinions about helping others, ethics, and building community. I cannot wait … Continue reading
Health Information on the Web, Part II: Evaluating Web Sites
I am enormously frustrated when I speak with people, aging adults or otherwise, who go online seeking medical information without using effective search and evaluation skills. In this day and age, the most important web task for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren, is to learn how to evaluate the information we find on the … Continue reading
Snow Shoveling: A Reminder About Getting Older
With all the snow in the Washington area this past week (two blizzards and about 30 inches in my neck of the woods), we are shoveling several times each day. Our work is even harder than we expected because our neighborhood snow blower needed a repair just as the first blizzard finished up. But we … Continue reading
Census Information and Aging Parents
I’ve written about seniors and aging parents and how they can interact with technology, computers, urban legends, and scams, but one aspect that I have not touched on is the upcoming census. Dale over at the Transition Aging Parents blog, has written an excellent post about helping aging parents avoid census scams. Census information gathering … Continue reading
As Time Goes By — a Great Blog
I expect to have aging parents for some years to come, so I am always on the lookout for other blogs that cover senior issues, especially those that feature great writing. The other day I mentioned Life with Father because it is wonderfully written and fun to read. Check out the most recent post, Love is a … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age 