Caring for an Elderly Parent and Its Impact on Your Marriage

Caring for an elderly parent and its impact on your marriage…Caring for an elderly parent can be a wonderful experience both for you and for your parent. But, it can also not be. For some, it can be highly rewarding. And for other families, it can be incredibly hard, stressful and uncertain.

There is a term called “The Sandwich Generation” and it refers to people who have their own family and are also taking care of an elderly parent.

If you are part of this sandwich generation, you will be familiar with the struggles caring for an elderly parent and its impact on your marriage can have. It can come with a tremendous financial component. If your parent has not secured long term care for themselves, many grown adult children try to provide this long term care themselves.

For some families, they have the elderly parent move into their home. For others, this isn’t possible. Either the parent lives far away from their adult child or children. Or, the parent is living in a long term care facility.

Whichever scenario you are in, the burden can be difficult to manage. The overwhelming thoughts. Feeling of guilt. Wanting to do more but not being able to based on the needs of your family and maybe your own medical and/or emotional health and wellbeing.

Caring for an Elderly Parent and Its Impact on Your Marriage

When our parents age and need care, many unresolved issues can also come up. Childhood issues within you or within your siblings. Unresolved feelings toward your parent and/or unresolved sibling issues and conflicts. All of these can begin to emerge when a parent ages, is unable to fully care for themselves and begins to need care.

Some elderly parents, if they are able to make their own decisions, may not want any help. May refuse any help offered by their children. This can be exceptionally hard on both the parent and children. The parent may be holding on to any last efforts at independence. While the children are now in the reversed parental role toward their parent who won’t take their well-meaning advise to help them.

All of these scenarios can begin to impact your marital relationship. Both financially if you are providing financial care for your aging parent. And also your emotional relationship with your spouse.

This can be an incredibly difficult time to navigate alone. Please know that you don’t have to. Help is available.

Marriage Counseling to Help Navigate Through This Difficult Time

If you’re struggling with this in your own life and within your marriage, marriage counseling can help. With all of the decision points to sort out and emotional toll this time in your life is having, know that help is available. It’s important to continue to maintain a strong and connected marriage during this time, marriage counseling can help get you there.

Reach out today to begin working through this difficult time. And to help navigate through the various emotions that may spark from day to day or minute by minute.