cover image Caring for Our Aging Parents: Lessons in Love, Loss and Letting Go

Caring for Our Aging Parents: Lessons in Love, Loss and Letting Go

Michele Howe. Hendrickson, $14.95 trade paper (236p) ISBN 978-1-61970-835-8

When Howe (a reviewer for PW) and her husband were “thrust into caring for our elder neighbor/relative,” they learned how unprepared they were. In this concise book, they take what they learned from that and subsequent experiences, and condense it into a guide meant to offer advice and solace to caregivers of all kinds. Chapters such as “Tough Love” and “Love and Respect for Others” take on specific challenges many caregivers encounter, such as the strain caregiving places on other relationships and the effects of caregiving on the caregiver. Each chapter contains a “Take-Away Action Thought,” which is meant to inspire further contemplation outside the text, as well as a brief prayer section titled “My Heart’s Cry to You, O Lord,” providing prayers that focus on the contents of that chapter. The book emphasizes the emotional aspects of caregiving; any practical advice it contains stems from anecdotes from the author’s life, but the focus is on the caregiver. Readers may feel misled by a chapter such as “When Finances Become Deal Breakers,” which lays out the challenges and expenses of caretaking for a patient who needs to ask her parents to contribute gas money because of the “financial toll on her pocketbook” but offers no other specific challenges or practical advice. Christians struggling with negative emotions while providing care to someone in need will find helpful comfort here. (Oct.)