22SP_SO205A-Sociology of the Family

1. Yeah a solution would be a country who pays its' employees well enough to securely retire without bringing their families into debt. No one sho should work their entire life at ANY job and have to rely on their children for money during retirement. However, when it comes to care for their parents that is a different story. There really is no way to eliminate the potential need from parents for their children to care from them. A 24 hour in house nurse is not economically feasible for most adult children; therefore, they give up their work instead of paying for a 24 hour nurse. This is the same thing people do with childcare. Maybe a potential solution is cheaper options for 24 hour nurse care, not under-cutting pay for those healthcare workers, but being subsidized by the country the people who need care worked to contribute to for 40+ years.

Children are obligated to care for their parents after their retirement due to the care the parents gave the child growing up. Ive noticed that my grandparents get so unbelievably excited when one member of my immediate family calls them and you can tell that they just miss being around everyone. Children must take on some form of care for their parents whether its social, financial, or emotional.

I think upward support could be a problem because adult children are having to care for another adult usually their parents at a time where they are trying to make life for themselves. It causes extra stress upon the adult child because they are having to be multifocused on life and survival as well as the well-being of their parent. I do not think that children care less about their parents than parents do for their child, I feel as if the dynamic of the two are different. I think jobs need to allow ways to support people well into retirement so that a child wouldn't have to provide too much support for their parent, unless the parent can not physically take care of themselves if that makes sense.

I agree with the second question because most children understand that their parents have cared for them their entire lives, and it is their turn to return the favor. I believe this is an ongoing cycle because your children will hopefully do the same to you years down the road. Personally, I had noticed this one my grandmother, who lives over in Ireland and is 90 years old and took care of us when my parents were at work when we were younger. So now we take turns flying over to Ireland here and there to see her and take her around the town to get her out and about. Whenever we call her home, she gets excited to talk to her grandbabies.

I think the upward steam problem is something that will most likely not have a solution. I think adult children feel the responsibility to take care of their parents as they did for them. I do not see a shift in the sacrifice that adult children make to help support their parent's instrumental, economical, and psychological needs. I understand there has to be a balance so that the children aren’t giving up their own means of support to support their parents. However, I don’t quite know how one would make that shift.

To answer you second question first, I don't know if I agree or not because I see both sides. My nana is retired and gets cared for though I am my parents' child I get focused on more but my nana still gets the needs met from either her daughter, son-in-law or grandchildren. And that goes for my Dad's parents as well. But the difference is the child is growing and need guidance meanwhile the retired grandparent or retired parent has lived and gave guidance.
To answer your first question more focused on your example. There can be problems with it if you look at it as the ill parent is taking away from their child's life but the child of that ill parent wants or either has to care for them. There can be solutions to just that example if places were safe to give care or if parents are willing to astray from their children's aid, etc.

I think that this is a problem that impacts a lot of people. People should be able to take care of their elderly parents without being financially and emotionally strained. Things like better retirement plans and benefits could help families handle medical bills or costs that come up in the later parts of life. Or if there was just some kind of pardon or program to help with those kinds of costs. With the second question, I think that children do feel responsible for helping provide support for their parents as they get older. Most people probably realize at some point in their lives how much their parents do or sacrifice for them, so they feel like it is their duty to do the same when they are able.

For the first question, the only way I can see this problem being resolved is have people's retirement be more secure financially. Many people who retire do not have the money for a caretaker or for expensive medical bills, and thus turn to their family for this support. I am not sure what governmental policies could help this, but it may be possible to educate younger generations on their financial literacy. This could help people plan their life course more accordingly.
For the second question, I agree that children are more important to the parents than parents are to the kids. Parents have often spent their whole times planning to have kids and when they have them, almost two decades of their lives will be dedicated to their offspring. However, after retirement, the kids will probably not be able to provide the emotional and social support that the parents, or at least to the degree they would need.

For the first question, I don't think people should have to give up their work in order to focus on taking care of their parents financially but I do think it is our responsibility to help care for our parents in their older age. They cared for us our whole lives and we should care for them when they need it too. I don't know if I agree with the second question because my parents are definitely the most important people in my life because without them I would have nothing, so right now I need them more than they need me. But eventually I will return the care and do the same for them one day.

I think one solution for this could be to have less expensive retirement homes. There are so many retirements homes that are over 10,000 and boast about having better amenities about other options. My grandparents lived in a retirement home in Nashville that had a golf course, a full fine dining restaurant inside and around the clock medical care. Most families in the US do not have the option to move their family into a place like that because of how expensive it is. If retirement homes were cheaper and more accessible to all people children would not have to give up their work to help take care of their parents.
I don't necessarily agree with the idea that children are more important to their parents after their retirement. The parents could just have more time on their hands to focus on their child now that they don't have work. Another option may be that after a parent retires they know that they don't have their entire life ahead of them anymore and they want to spend more time with them while they can.