When a couple is planning to have a baby, the support issue is not even questioned. Care, feeding and providing a shelter for the child are considered to be obvious duties of the parents. However, when children grow up and parents get old, priorities change on both sides. And then the question is who should take care of whom?
There are many reasons why children should support their elderly parents at least financially. The most common of them is to express gratitude for the given life. It is the question of reciprocal relationship – parents help their children to grow up, provide them with quality education and sometimes even with a good job and children ensure their parents with a quiet and carefree old age. Some couples stay and live with their parents to protect them from possible robbers and swindlers. In some countries, such as Japan, the care of the older generation is not just a tribute, but also a moral obligation, neglecting which is almost a sin.
Unfortunately, there is another side of the coin. Older people are often considered to be unnecessary problems and unwanted burden for their already independent kids. Preferring the path of least resistance, children send their parents to nursing homes, where they will be taken care of by strangers for money. However, far not everyone is so lucky. More often, the elderly are forgotten and abandoned in their lonely houses and apartments with no hope for care and respect from their children. There are plenty of reasons for this to happen – childhood insults, unwillingness to take responsibility, lack of morality and even greed.
This issue is rather complex and multifaceted, so there is no universal solution for it. It is a widely known fact that birth of a child should be planned and prepared for. So can the same be done, when it comes to those, who gave life to us?
Civilization of society depends on education and responsibility of each individual separately. And before taking any decision everyone should remember to treat other people the way you want to be treated.
There are many reasons why children should support their elderly parents at least financially. The most common of them is to express gratitude for the given life. It is the question of reciprocal relationship – parents help their children to grow up, provide them with quality education and sometimes even with a good job and children ensure their parents with a quiet and carefree old age. Some couples stay and live with their parents to protect them from possible robbers and swindlers. In some countries, such as Japan, the care of the older generation is not just a tribute, but also a moral obligation, neglecting which is almost a sin.
Unfortunately, there is another side of the coin. Older people are often considered to be unnecessary problems and unwanted burden for their already independent kids. Preferring the path of least resistance, children send their parents to nursing homes, where they will be taken care of by strangers for money. However, far not everyone is so lucky. More often, the elderly are forgotten and abandoned in their lonely houses and apartments with no hope for care and respect from their children. There are plenty of reasons for this to happen – childhood insults, unwillingness to take responsibility, lack of morality and even greed.
This issue is rather complex and multifaceted, so there is no universal solution for it. It is a widely known fact that birth of a child should be planned and prepared for. So can the same be done, when it comes to those, who gave life to us?
Civilization of society depends on education and responsibility of each individual separately. And before taking any decision everyone should remember to treat other people the way you want to be treated.