Elder Caregivers | Are You Smarter Than an Octogenarian?

Elder Care Issues

Strange Questions Your Elderly Loved One May Ask

Are you prepared for some difficult questions from your loved one? As a caregiver, you can't be too prepared. Take Frank, for example.

Frank is an educated man. He holds several degrees. He's traveled the world, and can speak three languages fluently.

He was sure he could tackle any question. Until his aging mother, struggling to recover from pneumonia took his hand and rasped:

"Frank, son...listen to me. I need to ask you an important question. Something that has been bothering me for a long time."

"Sure Mom, what do you want to know?" he asked, soothingly.

"What do you think really happens...if we...or when we..."


"Sshhh...Mom, it is going to be okay. You don't need to ask this right now."

"No. I have to know. What really happens if we cook microwave popcorn with the wrong side of the bag facing up?"

Questions The Elderly May Ask

Frank was not prepared for a question like this. He couldn't recall, in all his many years of academia, the physics of popcorn other than how the actual kernel pops.


Like Frank, you may find yourself doing hasty research in order to answer some way-out questions while you are a caregiver. Why does this take you off-guard?


When you became a caregiver to a parent you probably expected to be that pillar of support that guides them through the last years, with all of the frightening questions about life and death. Maybe you are more ready for an open-ended discussion on DNR orders and burial arrangements than the mysterious instructions on a popcorn bag.


If you have children of your own, think back to that time when they never uttered a sentence that didn't start with "Why, when, how, what, or who". Because you may experience similar moments of frustration as a caregiver.


Here are some tough questions that caregivers have shared:

• What  will happen to my bones if I am excavated  200 years in the future so that they can build a mall where the cemetery once sat?

• If I donate my body to science, will they put me in a museum, naked? 

• What happens if you leave specific orders not to be either buried OR cremated?

• Why do cars still say "Door ajar"? Why not "Door open"?

• What would happen if I did unplug my computer when it was performing updates?

• Well, if chemicals absorb through the skin, why can't they make a flu patch instead of the flu shot?

• Why don't they use big print on my eye vitamin bottle?

So, are you smarter than an octogenarian? Do you have all the answers? Do you know what would happen if the popcorn is popped upside down?