Aging Parents

I have come to the conclusion that as we age, we become androgynous. Mother Nature, who is known for getting kicks out of tricking all of us, performs an almost cyclical act when we age, and turns us back into pre-kindergarten, androgynous beings pre-occupied with showing everybody our boo boos.

Baby boomers are putting their retirements at risk by spending too much on their adult children, according to a new study by Ameriprise Financial. The...

My mother may not know my name, but she knows my voice, and it triggers something within. She giggles girlishly. Then, I start a song, one from the old days, and she joins in. We have our own routine, our Alzheimer's Rag.

Boomers should take heart knowing that what makes their generation unique could make their senior years healthier and more enjoyable than they might expect them to be.

When did this happen? The last I looked, I was pretty much my own self with my own eyes and nose. But now, my mom has taken over, and my cheeks, my chin, my whole profile is hers.

A friend recently noted that parenting her parents was a lot like parenting her kids, except the kids came with more homework. Actually, I think she was wrong on the homework part: Figuring out which Medigap policy to pick for Mom is right up there with the complexities of 10th-grade math.

As I pushed my father's wheelchair, we passed a homeless man in the street. He stood up and saluted my dad: "Welcome home, Sergeant. Thank you for your service."

She couldn't leave her bed at all during the final months, but the city came to her, one person at a time, to say goodbye in the room where they'd said so many hellos.

The clock is ticking. We need a fully-funded, coordinated national effort against dementia or we face big troubles ahead

In 1982, my beloved fell, broke her hip and ended up in a nursing home for rehabilitation. She never got out of that nursing home because of the "chemical restraints" that were administered to her.

I now consider mid-70s as "prime of life." Women in their 70s take brisk walks in cute yoga pants, work out at gyms, and go zip-lining in the Amazonian Rain Forest.

A couple of years ago, feeling sentimental and having just finished the seventh decade of my life, I suddenly realized that, at age 70, days pass like minutes, the years go by like days.

Seventy percent of people over 65 will need some form of daily assistance. Yet in an aging America, just when these services will be needed by our loved ones the most, long-term services and supports is eroding due to budget constraints.

Where have they gone? And what does it mean for my kids that, apart from their grandparents, they just don't know any old people?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Kristy Bryner worries her 80-year-old mom might slip and fall when she picks up the newspaper, or that she'll get in an accid...

With punch and panache, Mom inspires us all. She is a lesson on how to live your life to the max: at full-speed. Even if it's with a walker to get from West 65th Street to the museum on West 79th.

We are all very much still on this journey. We are the parents now in so many ways, the executors and the advocates, the decision makers, accountants and the schedulers. We no longer act like children with our parents. The see saw has tipped.

My spouse and I started saving for college when each of our daughters was born. We've set money aside faithfully every month for the last 14-1/2 years...

Selecting the right senior living community is an important decision that involves more than choosing a floor plan -- it's about security, quality of life and lifestyle.

For Thanksgiving this year, I went home to Connecticut to be with my family. The main theme for this week-long trip went way beyond the one day of festivities. I was primarily there to assist my ailing elder parents.