nothing dangerous, just regular aging stuff I’m not gonna get into.

My parents own 3 fully furnished houses in 2 different cities in the south. The oldest, biggest one should be sold because it is simply too big and too much work for them and I live and work 800 miles away.

There are other issues I want to discuss with them, mainly involving healthcare access, credit, several insurances, what to do when my father cannot drive anymore, hygiene, if they want to age in place AND only in place, but where exactly, DNR and intubation status, will and burial…

They are cognizant but I feel they really don’t want to talk about it and like many elder parents they wished these questions simply disappeared.

I’ve seen so much shit with eldercare and even having a plan doesn’t mean shit won’t happen, it means you’ll know how to react and who to call.

I was thinking about inviting my parents to a meal at a quiet restaurant, pay the waiter handsomely and have an extensive conversation there. I don’t want to have such a conversation at home because I don’t want them to resent the room where I question their ability to live as independently as before.

I don’t know if this makes me an asshole.

There is also a chance they storm out or start yelling at me and give me the silent treatment afterwards.

  • chagall@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    7 hours ago

    It’s not going to be one conversation, btw. I think that’s the key thing to understand: you’re not trying to figure out how to talk to them about end of life planning one time, you’re trying to figure out how to talk to them about full-life planning maturely from now on.

    This is so important. Don’t take them out and have a State of the Union dinner. That’s gotta be the absolute worst way to achieve your objectives. You want many bite sized, topic-bound conversations over a sustained period of time.