Eldercare, something I spent a LOT of time on in the last 13 years as an only child & the subject no one wants to talk about. Until it hits them. So many friends reaching out to me now b/c they saw what I went thru, and they're only now realizing how hard it is. 🎁 shorturl.at/npCyS 1/
It's curiously an area where people lack imaginative empathy. Many friends would lchange the subject on me if I spoke of it. None of the kind of knowing empathy of caring for children. It was maddening and demoralizing. At least a few friends didn't completely blow me off. I'm grateful for them. 2/2
It is. And if you have to do some of these tasks earlier than anticipated (sick parents in their early 70s) there’s even less empathy. People don’t realize how tricky this is to navigate
So I think it depends quite a bit on age. I’m GenX. So two grandparents dropped from heart attacks fairly young (mid 60s). One died from cancer, and I was 3. The last one was in another state and in a nursing home with local cousins doing most of the lifting.
With shifts in medicine, boomers are living longer and with more complex illnesses. 40 years ago, mom likely would have died in her 60s. Modern medicine has her going into her 80s
