Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents, Third Edition: How to Help, How to Survive

Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents, Third Edition: How to Help, How to Survive is a super resource that covrs so many aspects of the aging process of one's parents. It handles many situations and instructs and advises appropriate steps to take. It talks from many points of view. It deals with sibing issues and how to keep things reasonably fair even if oe sibling is not in the living area of the aging parent while one is nearby. It coers the only child's perspective. Most of all it illustrates proper and improper conduct. This gets you to think about your own situation and how to better handle it. Most important of all, this wonderful resource has a Department of Aging Directory which will help get you started when you feel overwhelmed. It also makes the caregiver think deeply about his or her own future and being part of a loving environment. This is certainly a resource you want to keep around during difficult times. It is definitely a difference maker.

Claire Berman's book speaks to my heart. As the child of an aging parent, I have come to realize that the difficulties I face as a caregiver are at least as much, if not more, emotional than physical. Her stories, whether directly related to my circumstances or not, address my raw emotions and help ease the pain. Her personal style of writing is unusually apt for those who are a parent's caregiver. She addresses care for aging parents from the perspective of a person who has made her own mistakes and learned from them. She writes as a friend rather than an impersonal "expert." I recommend this book for anyone who faces this demanding task. Phyllis Staff, Ph.D. author, "How to Find Great Senior Housing" and "128 Ways to Prevent Alzheimer's and Other Dementias"

Claire Berman gives fabulous examples for all types of caregiver situations. The information is a valuable tool in handling a wide range of issues, from a parent's early needs, to full nursing care. The book aids caregivers with making medical and financial decisions for elderly parents and finding help in the community without jeopardizing your loved one's independence. In addition, it encourages the reader to find the right caregiver support group and keep a clear focus on your own family needs/priorities.

Although my mother has some serious health problems, she's still in her fifties, so I hesitated at first to read this book. I thought there was no way it could be relevant to adults whose parents are ill but not elderly. I was wrong. This book was a godsend as my siblings and I scrambled around trying to figure out what we needed to do and how we could do it. I've referred to it again and again, not just for practical help with my mom's needs, but emotional support for myself. What a tremendous resource this book is.

This book is a must for anyone dealing with the monumental problems that can arise as parents get older. Ms. Berman provides important information, reassurance, and support that help caregivers deal sensitively and effectively with issues that had previously been overwhelming their lives. For oneself and as a gift to others, this is a jewel.