Parenting Your Parents: Straight Talk about Aging in the Family

A compendium of family scenarios for those dealing with the guilt, worry, and difficult decisions that come with eldercare.

• Is it time for your aging father to stop driving?
• How can you balance your career opportunities with your mother’s care needs?
• Can your parents cope on their own?
• Is it time for long-term care? Given their reluctance, is that even an option?

Millions of people are dealing with aging parents and are stunned with the complexities and demands of their care. As demographics change and societies adapt, that caring -- that parenting -- isn’t getting any simpler.

In the fourth edition of this eldercare classic, advocate Bart J. Mindszenthy and geriatrician Dr. Michael Gordon present twenty-seven case studies of families working through the eldercare puzzle. With new scenarios covering legalized marijuana and medically assisted dying, this revised and updated edition of Parenting Your Parents makes the case for good planning, family unity, and being aware of your loved ones’ health.

With the help of Gordon and Mindszenthy’s expert advice, care providers are able to shed guilt and worry and become confident that they have done all they could to make their parents’ latter years as fulfilling and comfortable as possible.

As an only child, Bart J. Mindszenthy spent years caring for his aging parents, and is an eldercare advocate and author of several books about aging in the family. Now a retired communications executive, he lives in Toronto.
Dr. Michael Gordon was Canada’s first Royal College Geriatrician and became VP of Medicine at Toronto’s Baycrest Geriatric Centre. He is a University of Toronto Emeritus Professor of Medicine and lives in Toronto.