Help for families when aging parents need care
Parenting is a lifelong venture with many rewards. But we may find ourselves parenting our parents if health issues require continued care. “There were 33.9 million family caregivers of elders in 2004, and it is projected that there will be 81 million by 2050,” states The Caregiver’s Handbook, a supplement to the PBS documentary…
Help your daughter deal with poor body image
Teen bodies are always changing, especially as they are going through puberty. All of these changes along with wanting to be accepted can cause young girls to have a poor body image. Body image has to do with how one feels about their body and physical appearance. Girls become very body-conscious at a young age.…
The importance of play
Growing up in northern Indiana in the 1960s, from my perspective as a young child, life was pretty simple. Our family had one car, a rotary dial telephone, and a color television that could pick up several stations (a luxury!) because of our proximity to Chicago. If you missed a phone call you had…
Finding the best home for Mom and Dad
There are many factors that must be taken into consideration when helping one’s aging parents find an appropriate place to live. A growing number of retirement communities and assisted living apartment complexes have sprouted up in the Springfield area, offering a variety of non-nursing home options with a variety of services, atmospheres and price ranges. …
A new philosophy of parenting
Attachment Parenting is the hotly debated parenting philosophy that emphasizes close physical proximity between caregivers and children (co-sleeping, babywearing, and breastfeeding) as well as parental responsiveness to a child’s signals of distress. Critics say that it is too demanding of parents and leads to clingy, spoiled children. Proponents argue that children are better able…
Bringing your parent home from the hospital
It’s the stuff of nightmares for every child of an elderly parent – the phone call in the middle of the night or the middle of your work day: “Your father fell. Your mother’s just not quite right. We think there’s something wrong.” And suddenly, there you are, with a parent who needs a new…
