Chaos at Christmas?

kristin5792
Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:34:24 +0000

lilmom, I’ll echo what Nick mentioned. My 83 year old grandfather–mom’s dad–needed an emergency quadruple bypass on Saturday. The nearest good hospital happened to be my college town. Mom and fam were stressed about it, so I let them stay at my apartment (<1mi from the hospital) and hung out with them while they were in town (which meant I got home 3 days later than expected, oh well). Even though it was a little scary, it ended up well (he’ll go home at the end of the week), and I’m pretty sure my mom was glad to have me around to help out. I think it also helped that we had some great news come about right before his surgery (I got into medical school!!) so that kept my family’s spirits up. Anyway, today she wanted to go back to visit him, so I took care of lots of cooking and chores and Christmas cards and you name it. It was a lot of work, but as a young adult kid I’m more than happy to help, and actually like doing it. And it means a lot to me that I can help my mom too.

Let your kiddos help you! They’ll feel great and you won’t be so stressed and anxious. Win-win.