Few days ago, I had made a mental note to write on the 'retirement home' topic that was part of this week's contest but somehow I missed the time frame but have decided that I'm going to write on it anyway.
Within this past few days, I've read multiple people's opinion on the matter and if there's one thing I've noticed (most especially with our African writers) is that we've taken this topic too personal, it's almost as if we're looking into the future and seeing our kids take us to retirement home and we don't like it.
Well personally, I also don't like the idea of getting a random stranger to overlook your love ones everyday during their old age until they die, and this has nothing to do with the fact that they're strangers, because we've entrusted strangers with other things that are a lot more life-threatening than this before and we will continue to do that.
The doctors we visit, the driver at the commercial vehicle that we enter, they're all strangers (most of them are) but we have no problem trusting them with our lives because we know or think that they're professionals...and if we can do that when it comes to those people, we can also do the same when it comes to the caregivers.
But, the main reason why I don't fancy the idea of having to take my parents to a retirement home is because they're my parents and therefore my responsibility. I have to make sure to look after them like I'm sure they would have looked after me, because I love them and they love me too.
But then again, this is just my feelings talking because when you look outside at the real world and really think about it, you realize that there are a lot of things out there that could hinder you from giving your parents the 24 hour care that they need, therefore you end up denying them certain things that would make them feel a lot more comfortable, especially at that age.
Now one of those things, and probably the most frequent one would be our jobs. Unless you're rich to the extent where you don't have to go work for the rest of your life and still don't worry about money, finding a balance between your work life and taking care of your parents can be very stressful, especially when you have jobs that just aren't flexible.
A good example being a pilot who travels from country to country and is rarely at home. There are other jobs that are even a lot more time consuming than that, and those kind of jobs wouldn't permit you to have enough time for your folks.
So depending on the situation you're in, I'd advise that we just don't think with our feelings because we will end up making a lot of mistakes, let's apply our brains too, access the situation and then make a decision that will help not just you, but your folks too.
Indeed everything depends on situation but I think most of people leave their parents because they think their parents as burden. That's the real issue I think.