In this episode we have brought on special guest host Carolyn Lambert to tackle the topic of coping with aging parents. Carolyn is a certified parent coach who was a guest on the podcast back in episode 11, and she is currently acting as a caregiver for her father who recently sustained a serious physical injury.
In our opening segment Jack reports to Alvin and Carolyn whether the book Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck has made him cry yet, we briefly discuss an article by Harvard business school professor Arthur Brooks, in which he argues that pushing yourself to do things you are likely to fail will make you happier, and we introduce a new segment called Wisdom from Alvin's youth where Alvin reads an entry from his high school journal.
In our main segment (28:00) we discuss two papers related to dealing with aging parents. The first looks at how demographic shifts over the past 100 years have resulted in middle aged folks being confronted more frequently with caring for aging parents, and the expectations and resentments mid-lifers might have with respect to these caregiving situations. The second paper discusses the different coping strategies we tend to use when caring for our aging parents, and we discuss these with Carolyn in the context of her current situation in which she is caring for her father.
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Arthur Brooks article:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/to-succeed-fail-better/681492/?gift=JlCQzt3MIZaHNzn12_BIC6Ii6LGkjfV5Ze_XJr6BLhw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

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