It’s exciting to enter our adult years when we become independent, establish a career, and start thinking of building our own family. This particular time in our life is mostly spent trying to fulfill our dreams and ambitions, and rewarding ourselves for our successes. But it’s also a time when we find ourselves in a better position and more meaningful role as caregivers to our parents.
Like most adult children, we start noticing changes when it comes to our relationship with our parents at this point. From the one being nurtured, we become the nurturer. Our parents, who were our protectors while growing up, now become the ones who need protection. When the roles are reversed, we as adult children find more meaning in our relationships with our parents. Here’s why.
1. Our perspective has changed. Today, we are adults dealing with adults, and no longer children dealing with
an authority
. There is little or no pressure at all to prove ourselves—we are accomplished in our own right. If we have established a good relationship with our parents during our childhood, then the chance of nurturing friendships with them is highly likely during adulthood.
2. We share parallel experiences. Because we’ve been on a journey of our own, there are now similar experiences that we share with our parents. These can pertain to starting a career, being in a relationship, or dealing with finances. In each instance, there is wisdom we can gain from our parents, and we, in turn, can now share our own perspective. Finding ourselves in a similar situation with our parents at some point in our lives makes us appreciate what they have been through.
3. You have the confidence to speak your mind. Even as we remain respectful of our parents, we as adults have become sure of ourselves, and are more confident to express our feelings. If we keep our conversations mature, we can engage our parents in friendly discussions, even on issues where we often disagree. Having more confidence also enables us to settle differences in a peaceful manner, taking our relationship with our parents to a whole new level.
4. It’s our choice to take their advice—or not. For most of our childhood, we had to deal with rules—what to do, what not to do—and we had very little say about it. As adults, we take our parents’ advice into consideration, but it is completely up to us whether or not to follow it. There is less or no pressure to gain their approval, and we are free to go in the direction we think is best for us. It works the other way around, too. They can do the same with the advice we give them: take it or go the other way.
5. We have the capacity to make life comfortable for them. This is more of a perk, but it certainly makes our relationship with our parents even more significant. As we start earning money of our own, we can treat our parents to the comforts or luxuries that they may have had to sacrifice when we were growing up. A weekly dinner date or a vacation out of town gives us a sense of pride—and them, a sense of accomplishment—adding substance to our adult child-parent relationship.
One of the best things we can give our parents, especially in their golden years, is a life free from worry. Now that we have the financial capacity to give them this, it is the perfect time to avail of Family Care Plus,
a life
and critical illness insurance product for two that ensures the protection of you and your loved one under one plan.
Family Care Plus is renewable every 10
years,
and provides protection coverage for life or critical illness for you and for your parent. What makes it even better is that Family Care Plus is part of the suite of products under the BPI AIA Wellness series, powered by AIA Vitality. This means you and your loved one are motivated to live healthier, longer, and better lives and enjoy exciting rewards!
Get ready for tomorrow with Family Care Plus. Visit any BPI branch nationwide and speak to a Bancassurance Sales Executive or check the BPI AIA Wellness Series to find out how you and your parents can stay protected—and live healthier, longer, and better lives!
