Life Without Baby

filling the silence in the motherhood discussion

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Contact

Caring For Aging Parents

November 11, 2010

Living so far away from my mother (6,000 miles) I spend a fair amount of time worrying about what’s going to happen to her when she gets old.

 

My mother is 78 (I’m sure she won’t mind me telling you) but she still rides her bike, runs, dances, and practices Tai Chi. But I can see her slowing down and I know she’s not going to live forever.

 

My brothers and I have discussed this. We acknowledge that minor emergencies and issues will continue to fall to my middle brother, who lives the closest to my mum—about 8 miles. My older brother will most likely take care of anything that needs organizing, should my mum need more long-term care. As for me, I live too far away to do much at all. But I don’t want to regret not being there when my mother needed me, so Jose and I have discussed the possibility of me spending large chunks of time with my mother as she ages. My work will allow me to do that, as will my very understanding husband, and of course, I don’t have children to take care of, so I have that flexibility.

 

I’m fortunate to have brothers who don’t squabble about who will take care of our mother, but I have friends who don’t have that relationship, and it seems that the responsibility often falls to one sibling, and quite often it’s the one who doesn’t have children.

 

I’m wondering… do you feel that your childless/childfree status will enable you to be there as your parents age, or does it just mean that your family will expect you to carry the load because you have “no other responsibilities?”

Filed Under: Childfree by Choice, Childless Not By Choice, Family and Friends, The Childfree Life: Issues and Attitudes Tagged With: aging parents, childless, responsibility, siblings

START THRIVING NOW

WorkBook4_3D1 LISA BUY THE BOOK BUTTON

Categories

  • Cheroes
  • Childfree by Choice
  • Childless Not By Choice
  • Children
  • Current Affairs
  • Family and Friends
  • Fun Stuff
  • Guest Bloggers
  • Health
  • Infertility and Loss
  • It Got Me Thinking…
  • Lucky Dip
  • Maybe Baby, Maybe Not
  • Our Stories
  • Published Articles by Lisa
  • Story Power
  • The Childfree Life: Issues and Attitudes
  • Uncovering Grief
  • Whiny Wednesdays
  • With Eyes of Faith
  • You Are Not Alone

READ LISA’S AWARD WINNING BOOK

Lisa Front cover-hi

~ "a raw, transparent account of the gut-wrenching journey of infertility."

~ "a welcome sanity check for women left to wonder how society became so fixated on motherhood."

read more ->

LISA BUY THE BOOK BUTTON

HELPFUL POSTS

If you're new here, you might want to check out these posts:

  • How to Being Happily Childfree in 10,000 Easy Steps
  • Friends Who Say the Right Thing
  • Feeling Cheated
  • The Sliding Scale of Coming-to-Terms
  • Hope vs. Acceptance
  • All the Single Ladies
  • Don't Ignore...the Life Without Baby Option

Readers Recommend

Find more great book recommendations here ->

Copyright © 2025 Life Without Baby · Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy · Designed by Pink Bubble Gum Websites