As mothers, we spent much of the first years of our children’s life trying to protect them. From holding hands, to forcing sunscreen on wiggly toddlers, to buckling them in the car safely, to kissing scraped knees. It can be a full time job. But what about when they are older? And what if they have already lost one parent? What happens if the other one gets sick too?
Making sure your family can continue to function after losing your spouse can seem like a full-time job; a single parent takes on all the responsibility, pays all the bills, and makes all the appointments. This week, I found out I have some medical issues that will possibly require surgery and a period of recovery. It made me realize that I have spent years handling everything, and if I have to be unavailable to handle things, my adult children are not prepared with things like passwords, due dates, or even what bills are done, when and how we pay things. So, how do we handle things and prepare our children to take over the job-handling life if we can not?
The things I plan on doing to prepare my kids before they have to handle things possibly.
- Pick a child who you trust to put in your bank account. This is in case of emergency, and they can legally pay bills for you if need be.
- List creditors’ account numbers, due dates, and how those bills are paid.
- Create a file of important documents and policy numbers.
- Create a file of email and social media accounts with usernames and passwords.
- I am preparing a medication list and doctor numbers for my oldest, who is disabled.
Doing these things will make it much easier for family members to help. Creating this file is a good idea for your emergency file. We never know when an emergency can occur. With medical issues, I was given time to prepare, and it made me realize we never know what tomorrow will bring. We live in a crazy world, and part of handling everything is to prepare others to do our job if and when we can not.
“We cannot protect our children from life. Therefore, it is essential that we prepare them for it.” -Rudolf Dreikers
About Cindy Schriver
In 2011, Cindy lost her husband of 16 years to a rare form of cancer after a
long and hard-fought battle. Left behind in the whirlwind of grief with three
adolescent children, Cindy had to learn to find herself again and how to
help herself and her children through the journey of grief. Knowing she had
to become the sole provider for her family, Cindy returned to college at 38,
earning a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a master’s degree in
Adult Education. Cindy is currently pursuing her Doctorate and is constantly
looking for new experiences.