In This Episode:
Dr. K talks with family caregiving expert Barbara Kane, LCSW, co-author of “Coping With Your Difficult Older Parent: A Guide for Stressed-Out Children.” She is a co-founder of Aging Network Services, which provides geriatric care management and psychotherapy services. They discuss:
- What it means to be a “difficult” older person, and why most such older parents have been “difficult” their entire lives
- Categories of difficult behavior, including dependent, “turnoff”, self-centered, controlling, self-destructive, and fearful behaviors
- How Aging Network Services helps adult children examine and improve their own interactions with their aging parents
- Why age-related challenges are especially hard on “difficult” people
- Why adult children must often learn to tolerate an older parent’s unhappiness
- How it can help to stop arguing, stop “trying to fix,” and stop “trying to please”
- Tips on boundaries and setting limits with an older parent
- How bringing in a geriatric care manager can help an aging parent accept needed help
- Strategies for better communication with siblings when discussing plans for aging parents
