Caregiving for an aging parent is an emotional journey that requires balancing love, responsibility, and strategy. Navigating the role reversal—becoming a parent to your parent—presents challenges, especially in preserving their dignity while ensuring safety. This involves deciding when to step in, guided by factors like safety, understanding consequences, and long-term financial impact. Open-ended conversations and empathy are essential in fostering collaboration and mutual respect.

Caregiving for an abusive parent can be isolating and misunderstood – why maintain a relationship with someone who hurt you so much? I admit it is not always an easy choice but despite some resurfacing of painful emotions, I have found healing and deep love giving this care to my mother that she never gave me.

As my parents’ health declines and my siblings become more involved in their Caregiving, I realize I am struggling with fear and a loss of control mixed with a bit of spite. Despite the harmonious portrayals in movies, real-life caregiving is often messy with misunderstandings, unresolved issues, personality clashes, and anxiety. How can we soften these interactions without damaging our relationships?

In every neighborhood, there seems to be someone who lives alone and keeps to themselves. While we want to respect what our neighbors’ privacy, my story will show it’s important to be aware of any changes you might see.

Caring for your aging parents can open a “time machine” into your past. In this caregiving role, where childhood memories and family dynamics resurface, you might find yourself revisiting both fond and challenging moments from the past. It can be frustrating but it can also help you understand how you became the person you are today.

Showing my gratitude to the people in our lives who support us and lift us up through my handmade art is a huge honor! Handwritten notes are such valuable gifts. This passion began when my son, who has Fragile X syndrome and autism, was young and we had a specialist who would come to our house to work with him. Her support and dedication truly impacted me, reinforcing our values of grace and gratitude.

I never let my disability hold me back. I was also lucky to grow up with teachers who felt the same. Teachers who saw past my disability and encouraged and supported me. This has helped me achieve my dreams of writing and acting – fully expressing who I am.

I know Caregiving can be tough emotionally and requires a lot but I think there is a really wonderful, rewarding aspect of it that gets overlooked. And while not everyone can be a Caregiver, there are lots of ways to support those who are!

Alongside the recovery and daily physical challenges that come with a traumatic brain injury, I am a Caregiver for my aging parents. I struggled mightily in the beginning but have since learned to give myself grace and forgiveness and have learned some things that would help any Caregiver.

What is occupational therapy (OT)? And how is it different from physical therapy? The two are commonly confused but I will explain the differences including goals and outcomes, and how OT can shift with age.

The fall holiday season can be tough sometimes. Long before the event, we see all the decorations and ads. If your Loved One is in a facility, here are some ways you can still celebrate with them.

When a Loved One is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it’s important to take the time to address children’s fears and questions about the disease. Getting kids involved in the care of the affected person, while giving them clear directions on when to ask an adult to intervene, helps them build empathy and continue to create positive memories with their Loved One and helps children feel included.

As your Loved One’s ability to understand words diminishes, they will focus on the tone of your voice and your body language. This is where the work I do comes in – helping caregiver support their loved ones with dignity and warmth.

I am honored to write this column for the Much Love, Lili newsletter and want to use this opportunity to talk about why I wrote my book, Finding the Right Words: A Study of Literature, Grief, and the Brain.

If your Loved One has been diagnosed with any type of dementia, or if they just get confused sometimes, it may be tempting to correct, re-orient, or tell them the truth of their actual situation. I would like to give you a few things to consider before you decide to, essentially, tell your Loved One that they are wrong.

Grief is very much a part of our lives. We usually think of grief as happening after the death of a Loved One but grief can also be brought on by changes, losses and transitions that are unrelated to death. Generally we just press on hoping time will take care of whatever we’re feeling without ever facing it head on. It is the piling up of this unresolved grief that often haunts us and I think keeps us from being as supportive as we can be to both ourselves and others.

Grief is usually thought of as being sad or crying but, with many years of grief experience under my belt, I have found that grief encompasses a much wider range of emotions, including impatience and anger. This range of emotions – including sadness – come and go and come again, often without warning. And while we tend to push it away, I’d like to offer you a new way to look at it.

My husband and I could not have imagined when we met in 4th grade the curve-balls we would be thrown on our journey together. The weight of our losses and struggles can be overwhelming but our youngest, living son is truly a blessing and a balm.

Bonnie, Charlie, Dean, Nancy, Morley. My close cousin, my mom’s fiancé, my dad, my grandma, my grandpa, respectively. I lost these five near and dear people to me in 7 years, so, I am well-versed in grief and experiencing close losses.

One of the cruelest things about life is the loss of our parents. Maybe you weren’t as close to your parents as I was, but it still is a loss. It is a loss in that there is no longer hope that the relationship(s) could improve, or disagreements be resolved. Or maybe it is a loss because they never got to meet your children and so, they couldn’t fulfill the role of doting grandparent or help you with childcare as they had promised. Perhaps you had a fight or disagreement and they died before you had a chance to make it right.