How the Family System Works With The Nearly Normal Aging Family

The aging of a key family member presents complex familial challenges in all families, even the nearly normal aging family. Aging families must deal with the psychological and relational stress associated with loss. The loss may be multifaceted, involving not just the familiar effects of physical and mental decline, but may also have significant emotional components to the aging family members like the adult children. Loss of continuity that the aging parent represented, loss of defined roles, like” Mom cooks the turkey “ or we go to the Dad and Mom Christmas Eve, or we do the first night of Hanukah at Mom and Dad’s. There is also the loss of significant relationships, the parent: all of these effects may not have been fully anticipated, by even the nearly normal aging family.