Caring for aging parents can run the gamut from paying bills and monitoring bank accounts to such hands-on care as bathing, grooming, or feeding. If you’re fortunate, you can afford some assistance and you might have even made a longer-term plan for providing care for your older parents. But it’s just as likely you’ll be in a complicated and at times burdensome caregiving relationship, often without a roadmap or a clear end in sight. This can be especially physically and emotionally draining if you yourself are over 65 and had not planned to be caregiving for parents in their late 80s or beyond.

If you’re investigating the option of assisted living for your parents, you’ll need the advice of Carolyn Rosenblatt, who has some reality-based guidance of what you can and can’t expect for your parents in an assisted living environment. If you’re trying to manage your parents’ finances and investments, you’ll be wise to take a look at this recent New York Times article on the excessive fees that brokers might charge on your aging parents’ accounts. And if you’re in the market for the latest books on caregiving, take a look at these recommendations from Next Avenue. Or, for a lighter look at creating positive caregiving experiences with your aging parents, check out Christina Britton Conroy’s book, How To Have Fun With Your Aging Parents: I Want to Go to Lithuania.

Finally, for those times when your caregiving help is rebuffed or resisted by older parents, take a look at the advice of Jody Gastfriend from Care.com who has suggestions for finding and creating caregiving solutions that work for both you and your parents.