When you say, “reachingg the end of that path,” what exactly do you mean? Is it because your in-laws (IIRC) are getting to the point where they need more help that cannot be provided at home, or??? What sort of options are you considering, and why?
We are also dealing with this issue in our family, but he’s not a blood relative (multi-decade companion of my MIL, though they never married), so we’re not given much say, and everyone else (his bio kids) is trying to ignore the obvious. This is something that I think will greatly affect future retirees because so many were divorced, which really changes the family dynamics and how people perceive their obligations to their divorced parents — especially if they remarried and had more kids. It can get awkward, to say the least.
You are totally right about being nice to your kids. I don’t see any other way to deal with this issue outside of foisting it upon the kids. Not what anyone wants to do, but until we come up with a better solution, it’s the only way we’ll be able to manage this number of elderly patients.
Personally, I’m in love with the way they manage things in some European countries, but that would be “socialism,” and we can’t have that here.
