Those of us with elder parents spend a lot of time thinking about age and change. As adult children, we observe the aging of our parents, but not infrequently we wonder aloud how they got so old. At the same time we don’t always notice how we, too, are growing older. In October 2014 the … Continue reading
Tagged with aging …
Watching Opera With Lots of Older People
This weekend I went to the Metropolitan Opera to watch Renée Fleming, Sir Thomas Allen, Nathan Gunn, Kelli O’Hara, and a host of other polished singers offer amazing operatic performances. No, I was not in New York City, and I did not sit in the Met’s gigantic performance hall that holds as many as 3,800 people. I did not purchase one … Continue reading
Cyber Seniors Documentary: Well Done!
This afternoon at the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) conference in Washington, DC, I saw clips from a documentary, Cyber-Seniors, about teenage volunteers in Toronto who work with elders — people in their mid to late 80s and older — and the rich clarity of their interactions. Many of these people retired before computers appeared … Continue reading
Making Decisions: What to Do As One Ages
As I grow older and begin to think a bit about my retirement years, I sometimes ask myself whether I might do something — or stop doing it — once I retire. Usually this inner dialog focuses on the amount of money I am paying, leading me on to wonder whether I will even have the money for the activity once I … Continue reading
Nursing Home? Be Prepared to Learn
No one ever wants to think about the possibility of a nursing home. Yet long-term care may figure prominently in many of our lives. The New York Times recently published two articles by Jane Brody about how to choose a nursing home community carefully. In part one, Nursing Home Unthinkable? Be Prepared in Case It’s Inevitable, she interviews people … Continue reading
Will Robots Take Care of Us When We’re Old?
Take a few minutes to read a May 2014 Chicago Tribune article, An Army of Robots May Soon be Deployed to Care for the Elderly. This piece, written by Reuters columnist Mark Miller, explores how robots may be able to perform certain tasks to support elders who can’t aways do those tasks for themselves. Innovating with robots … Continue reading
Gazing at Aging Through the Reunion Prism
When I attended my first school reunion with a family member, just a few years after graduating from college, the people attending their 35th, 45th and 50th reunions seemed really old. At a Saturday luncheon table near the back of an old-fashioned field house, we watched and clapped, somewhat wondrously, as the different classes stood … Continue reading
Second Wind: A New Book and Tour by Dr. Bill Thomas
Leave it to Dr. Bill Thomas to write a new book, in this case Second Wind, and then use the book tour, not just to publicize its release by joining radio personalities and attending book signings, but instead to educate in a big way. Dr. Bill, some of his Eden Alternative and Green House Project colleagues, and … Continue reading
Detached Retina-PVR: A Low Vision Specialist’s Huge Tape Tip
I’ve always thought of myself as a cup-half-full person. Just about any time that something hard or challenging occurs, I’m out there trying to help solve the problem or at least make things better. My continuing retinal detachments (a.k.a. proliferative vitreoretinopathy or PVR) together with oil that may never be removed from my eye, have … Continue reading
Aging With Commitment and Good-Bye Pete Seeger
When we look around at elders, it’s interesting (and a bit awesome) to observe many engaged and committed people leading rich lives for as long as they live — and often despite fairly daunting physical difficulties. I usually think of my parents who use their energy to help others and solve problems in the world, … Continue reading
The View from Inside an Assisted Living Community
We hear a lot about assisted living communities these days. If we need to learn more, we check out glossy brochures that describe each place in considerable and colorful detail. Sometimes we visit the community for a meal or to participate in a special event. What we don’t see when we help a family member … Continue reading
Aging Parent Hospitalizations and Observation Status
Just when you think that you have settled the most significant adult child-aging parent issues — when you and your parents have spoken about medical care support, finances, and the range of their end-of-life wishes — along comes another concern to worry about, and it’s one that may be completely out of our control. We … Continue reading
Some Retirees Are Starting Businesses
Those of us edging closer to retirement may be in for some surprises. We may discover that some of our friends and colleagues are thinking less about taking it easy in their later years and more about using the time to start a business. A Bloomberg Personal Finance article, Older Americans Shun Retirement at 65 … Continue reading
Pneumonia Vaccinaton Makes a Difference
Aging parents and elders need to get a flu shot each year, and they also need to receive a pneumonia vaccination. And just about everyone else does, too. Each fall I ask my parents about their flu shots (You can also read the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s influenza FAQ), and each year, by the … Continue reading
The World Is Aging – Animated Planet Money Gifs
Yes, the world is aging. Every member of the boomer generation is getting tired of hearing about it. Yet, the media keep talking about the trend, and many people find it challenging to picture just what is happening, demographic wise. To help out, the clever people over at NPR’s Planet Money have posted a set of … Continue reading
Nelson Mandela: Courage and Leadership in His Elder Years
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Nelson Mandela over the past several days. Since he died last Friday (December 6, 2013), I’ve considered especially the moral courage he demonstrated during his 95 years as well as his ability to work with and lead others even as he aged into his elder (and elder, elder) years … Continue reading
One Person Out of Ten May Develop Diabetes by 2035
Lots of people may want to work at improving their diabetes risk factors if an article from TimeHealthland.com is any indication. The Health and Medical Resources blog excerpts the Time article and also features some extraordinary graphic visualizations (the prevalence of cases in various countries) from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Atlas sixth edition. Diabetes has increased across the globe, and it’s no … Continue reading
A Workplace Counters Ageism – National Institutes of Health
Last Thursday, on the Washington DC Metro, a woman sitting in front of me spoke to a seat mate about ageism, a term first coined by Dr. Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute of Aging (NIA). As I eavesdropped, the woman on the Metro spoke about comments from younger colleagues, the tendency … Continue reading
Life Expectancy Growth in the U.S. – Slowing Down
When I read the article Americans Fall Behind in the Getting Older Race at National Public Radio (NPR), I was impressed by the graphics — and how easy they were to understand — so I decided to share one or two of them here at As Our Parents Age, along with more information about the report that … Continue reading
Senior Moment or Alzheimer’s?
As the adult children of aging parents most of us are used to hearing friends and colleagues make the “senior moment” comment. Often when a person over 45 or so has difficulty remembering something, he or she will comment, “…oops, I’m having a senior moment.” I began noticing this in my late 40′s and now, … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age 