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Saturday, March 6, 2010

Daughter's as care giver to aged parents


Not without my daughter

Whether it is wiring money to dad for the latest diabetes detection machine or chatting with mom regularly to keep her loneliness at bay — daughters today are increasingly looking after their parents. And their rising economic independence has only made it easier than in the past.

The ancient tale of Shravan Kumar, the dutiful son who carried his ageing parents in two baskets on his shoulders, now needs to be rewritten with a female character scripted in. Today, daughters are playing the role of primary care-givers to their parents.

Shailesh Mishra, founder of Silver Innings, an NGO for senior citizens, says the new generation of economically independent women is proving to be the pillars of support ageing parents can fall back on. “Daughters are different from sons in a way because they have an innate maternal instinct. And if they are earning, they feel the need to care for their old parents,” he says.

Since married daughters aren’t traditionally supposed to share the burden of their parents’ upkeep, this new role play takes most parents by surprise. It’s not as if sons don’t care about their parents these days, but sometimes coping with illness and old age puts a strain on relations, and the married daughter brings in a new perspective.

Take the case of Mumbai stockbroker Sanjay Mehta. His father, who was known among the morning walkers of Hanging Garden as ‘the youngest 80-year-old around’, suddenly suffered a stroke and had to undergo surgery. When his father came back home, his sudden dependency on Mehta made him irritable. He needed constant attention. Often he would soil his pants. Mehta says, “I didn’t know what to do. I felt depressed when I would return home from work.” Then, his married sister decided to move in for a month and take care of her father. “She would read to him, make him laugh and be around him to make him feel good about himself,” says Sanjay. “That’s more than I could have ever imagined doing.”

Such examples abound across the country, in both metros and smaller towns, where, despite the presence of sons and daughters-in-law, the daughter takes care of the parents. Dr Rajal Thaker, 44, of Ahmedabad says she is her parents’ child first and a daughter
later. Thaker has her heart in the right place. She says her mother has spent many nights staying awake by her bedside whenever Thaker would fall ill as a child. Today, she proudly claims she spent as many nights taking care of her septuagenarian mother Nilima when she underwent a bypass surgery a few years ago.

In Delhi, 52-year-old Nayantara Siddhanta (name
changed) took a sabbatical from work to complete her PhD thesis, but scarcely anticipated that her life would take a 360 degree turn. Her mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a degenerative bonemarrow cancer. “My mother was so ill that her life had come to a grinding halt. Between my career and my family, the choice was clear. It had to be my mother first,” says Siddhanta. Although daily hospital rounds, consulting with doctors, and attending to her mother 24/7 seemed exhausting at first, soon it became a mechanical routine to which she succumbed without the slightest protest.

While it is easier for single women, a number of married women are also finding their husbands increasingly supportive as far as taking care of their parents is concerned. Just before her father’s eightieth birthday, Vasumathy Rangarajan, a special educator in Chennai, persuaded her parents to leave their home in Tiruchi and move in with her. “I gave them no other option,” she says. She and a friend recently started a club for octogenarians. “My mother-in-law is also 89. I realised that elderly people are usually dependent on their children for everything and have no place to meet or interact on their own. I wanted to give them such a forum,” she says.

Ishani Dutta, a teacher at Alliance Francaise in Delhi, has a flexible schedule that allows her to shuttle between work and home. With an elderly mother to look after, she finds her teaching job a blessing in disguise. “I spend time with my mother in the evenings after I have finished classes. We simply sit and chat over cups of teas.”

The bond between a mother and a daughter can never become weak, no matter what, feels Dutta. “The difference is that in old age the mother often becomes the daughter and the daughter becomes the mother.
That’s the beauty of the relationship,” she says.

A few decades ago, societal norms were such that it was only the daughter-in-law’s duty to look after her mother-in-law; rarely would a daughter visit her mother, let alone make her stay with her. “Society has become more tolerant. I am lucky that my husband doesn’t fret about me devoting time or money to my mother,” she says.

Social scientist and senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Shiv Viswanathan, suggests that, even biologically speaking, daughters have a more caring mental make-up. “Women view the family as an important institution. Patriarchy doesn’t work because sons don’t want to take on responsibilities,” he says.

Daughters who move back into their parents’ home after a failed marriage tend to take on more responsibilities. Mishra of Silver Innings talks about a case in which a daughter moved back to her parents’ home with her two children and cared for them through their illnesses despite having brothers. “A lot more needs to be done to sensitise people about the necessity of looking after old and ailing parents. And if daughters step forward and take the initiative, the sons will follow suit,” he says.


By Namita Devidayal with reports from Mansi Choksi in Mumbai, Diya Banerjee in Delhi and Radha Sharma in Ahmedabad


Source: The Times of India- The Crest Edition, dt 6th March 2010


Silver Inning Foundation Salutes the Women,thank god you made her

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hidayath,Dubai,says:Article is just finest one i have read after long time. I'm proud father of my little daughter.
[9 Mar, 2010 0732hrs IST]

chandra,hyderabad,says:Very well written......an eye-opener indeed for both sons
[8 Mar, 2010 1758hrs IST]

Nandish,Zurich,says:Salute to womanhood
[8 Mar, 2010 1736hrs IST]

Naveen,Mumbai,says:The article is an inspiring one. I have a little daughter. She is in Class One. However, I know that she has a special relationship with her mother. At moments, she would innocently tell me that she would share this secret with her mother only. Such is the beauty of this relationship.
[8 Mar, 2010 1423hrs IST]

prachi,hyderabad,says:very honest .genuine and the very fact being told here.
[8 Mar, 2010 1349hrs IST]

ravi,bangalore,says:Starting with salute to the above mentioned ladies. But according to theory of relativity "someone is good because others were bad"
[8 Mar, 2010 1216hrs IST]

sangita,bhubaneswar,says:The daughter in law influences their husbands not to take care of his parents Now it is high time they should realise that in laws are also parents of her husband Like any humanbeing they also need care and attention at old age A girl should be a responsible daughter and a daughter in law
[8 Mar, 2010 1156hrs IST]

Priyanka.P,Palakkad,says:Its true,I and my elder sister take care my parents.My father got asthma. Could not continue his job.My mother has got bladder stones. She needs surgery and is admitted in a hospital.Me and my sister providing financial support.
[8 Mar, 2010 1140hrs IST]

K.K.SHARMA,krishnanand101.blogspot.com,says:SON'S BECOME INDIFFERENT TO THEIR PARENTS WHEN SOMEONE'S DAUGHTER ENTERS HIS LIFE AND NEVER BEFORE.......
[8 Mar, 2010 1138hrs IST]

Malathy,Bangalore,says:Excellent article. Thanks for giving reality comments on Daughters which will never change .............
[8 Mar, 2010 1016hrs IST]

reena chennai 08 Mar, 2010 09:56 AM
very impressive article.....

vijay thrissur 07 Mar, 2010 10:01 PM
i think its nice to see the modern women are more economically independent and committed to their families more than ever. but it is NOT AT ALL FAIR TO THINK THAT MEN DONT CARE AND CANT TAKE CARE OF THEIR OLD PARENTS.

swetha hyderabad 07 Mar, 2010 09:33 PM
Thats true!!

uning india 07 Mar, 2010 09:08 PM
YES I AM REALY TAKEN BY GOING THROUGH THE MATTER DISCUSSED. I DO FEEL THAT ITS THE GIRL CHILD WHO ARE TAKING CARE OF THEIR PARENTS MORE, I DON'T SAY THAT THE SONs DON'T CARE FOR THEIR PARENTS BUT THE EMOTIONAL FEELINGS ARE LESS THAN THE DAUGHTER. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE SEEN AND FEEL.

aditi mumbai 07 Mar, 2010 05:41 PM
there is need to publish more articles like this

PUNCHU ARITOICAL 07 Mar, 2010 05:20 PM
GIRLS ARE BETTER

SURABHI PATNA 07 Mar, 2010 04:43 PM
i lykd it!its actuly true n i hav seen my mom do dat

sarita mumbai 07 Mar, 2010 04:39 PM
i totally agree....i belive that because women have the maternal instinct in them to a greater extent they are able to empathize with their parents

S.kumar Chennai 07 Mar, 2010 04:25 PM
Yes.it is true daughters have patience and take care of d parents .

neha Pune 07 Mar, 2010 04:09 PM
Amazing article!! Times are changing. and because women are financially more independent than ever, this gives them the liberty to do what they please. I think women always wanted to do this but there were many limitations-financial ,societal but now things are better.kudos to gurl power

Anonymous said...

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