Stories of Change & Creativity
May 14, 2023

Kim & Mike Barnes: Parenting Aging Parents

Are you caring for an aging parent?  If so, you'll appreciate this podcast episode featuring Kim and Mike Barnes, founders of Parenting Aging Parents. 

Award-winning Austin journalists Kim & Mike Barnes provide actionable solutions about how to care for aging parents.   Their mission and passion is called Parenting Aging ParentsWhile sharing their own experiences and providing guidance from experts,  Kim and Mike help others navigate the journey. 

5 Important Conversations you need to have about your aging parents.

1. Talk with your siblings. Get on the same page. 
2. Housing. Where do your parents want to live?
3.  Finances. (Pensions, Debt, Expenses)
4.  Legal.  (Wills, POA, Medical Directives)
5. Passwords. (Cell phones, computers, accounts)

About Parenting Aging Parents

Over the past five years, Kim and Mike Barnes found themselves navigating problems they never saw coming from their parents: Alzheimer’s, pacemakers, COVID pneumonia, and the tough decision to move parents into retirement communities. They’ve learned to balance the many facets of parenting aging parents, including medical, financial, and everyday-life decisions, emotional rollercoasters, protecting their parents from scams, and more, all while parenting college-age kids and building their own careers. Many struggle in silence—which is why Parenting Aging Parents provides information, resources, and support.

Through their free Facebook Group, expert interviews, and guide for gathering essential information, Kim and Mike provide access to the knowledge desperately needed for adult children. Parenting Aging Parents is a safe space and a second family for anyone in a position of support and caregiving for the elder relatives in their lives, and especially those who are struggling. Caregiving happens in the margins of life and tugs people (especially women) in so many directions – being a supportive child, a good parent, a productive employee – that it’s too easy to forget yourself in the mix. Parenting Aging Parents strives to provide content, connection, and community for its members so that adult children know how to be better prepared for the challenges ahead as their parents get older.

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