Parent / Child Role Reversal 

Dear Reader, Someone wrote to me about coping with parent/child role reversal. This struck a cord because of an experience with my father. He was visiting our family when his arthritis struck him down, making him completely bedridden for a month. Meanwhile, his mind had slowed down too, and that's when I had to take over decision making for him. Unless you have gone through this yourself, you have no idea how difficult it is. For instance, I would naturally ask him what kind of cereal he wanted for breakfast and he could not make up his mind. This was my father whom I had always looked up to and admired. Heartbreaking, and yet with time and repetition, it became aggravating. That's when I had to tell myself to "lighten up" and make decisions for him. Thank goodness I had an understanding husband who would come home from a day's work and give me time to regroup myself. After a period of time the arthritis loosened its grip on my father and he improved gradually. Hopefully the writer's father will regain his strength and be able to do more for himself each day. This should give him some self-satisfaction and the spirit to keep at his exercises. My father loved to play cards so we would play every evening. Maybe just the three of us, but our neighbors would join us often as well. This gave him lots to think about and added interest to his life, taking his mind off his troubles. Does your father have hobbies or like to read? The main thing is to keep yourself as happy as you can so that your troubles seem to lessen. A happy face makes everyone happier. Grandma