"I See You!"

Parents Live Far Away

You might have noticed that a main theme in the Family Matters Baby Boomer Blog is the focus on the  need for consistent, open and honest communication when helping your aging parents. This can be challenging enough in the best circumstance but when you and other family members live far away from each other, it can seem downright overwhelming.  One solution is to take advantage of the technology widely available to all of us today; video chat.

Scattered Family

The winds of time have scattered my family all over the place.  My younger sister is in the prime of her career, working long hours and living on the central coast of California.  My older brother, a truck driver looking forward to retirement in a few years, lives in Northern California near the Nevada border.  I am the co-owner of an in home care agency in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  My Mom (83) and Dad (86) are enjoying their golden years in the warmth of the Florida sun.

The Video Chat Solution

We are all busy with our daily lives,children, jobs, and obligations.  It is quite the challenge to get us all together in one place, at the same time.  In fact, we haven't been successful in doing so for more years than I care to say.  This is why I was so thrilled with my Mom's idea.  It was a subtle little hint in the form of a question she posed while we were talking on the phone one day.  "Do you have Skype?"  Well, having grown up in the technology age, of course I do! It turns out that my techie Mom had a Skype account too, but just did not know how to use it.  Working together, with a couple of phone discussions, screen shots and emails back and forth, she figured it out. I was delighted on Sunday morning when my computer phone rang and when I picked up the video call she exclaimed, "I see you!"

Come back later this week when you can read more about keeping those lines of communication open with your aging parents. I will provide you with some easy to use tips and guidelines for setting up and using video chat to "see" and keep in touch with each other.