Down in the dumps again – challenges with adult children

A pill and prayer are not going to make your children and grandchildren reunite with you. Read the post above and get out and get involved in LIFE. As hard as it might be at first...do for others. Volunteer. Enrich your life with activities. You want to be considered a positive ray of sunshine in the lives of your family and others. Take it one step at a time with your children and offer to babysit or go for a coffee and bring little gifts or their favourite dessert from childhood. People want to be around those who are not mopey, passive and needy. Be strong and independent. Smile! And this way you will be an influence on them as they might be depressed.
I am a senior and I attend 2 Italian classes per week (I am not Italian) and one German class (I am not German.). I volunteer for 4 organizations. I cook soups for my 80+ sister in law who is not well. I am organizing old family videos and photos. I get out and do photography on occasion. I try to travel somewhere once a year. I send a young, African asylum seeker to English school and I help him find his way in this new, scary world for him. I babysit my granddaughter and cook dishes they like when I have time. I could go on and on. Bottom line: Get involved in life and make yourself interesting. And be cheerful and positive. Good luck!

@becsbuddy Stay with us and we can be encouraging. We all need it at times. Mine requires constant maintenance. I may need to visit the chocolate factory though.

Sorry to hear about your heartache, and yes it truly can sometimes be a heartache when your child chooses to create a rather significant inconvenience to Mom than to postpone a nap time for your granddaughter, to pick you up at the airport, that is very thoughtless in my opinion. Have you tried sending her an email? Sometimes when you send your kids something in writing it resonates with them more and they think twice about how they're treating Mom lately. Things have to be spelled out clearly for some kids. I remember when my husband and I had to move from one state to the other because of health issues (no family close by and kids wanted us to move closer to SOMEONE! we have seven kids and most wanted us to live near them, one in London, one in Canada so that was out of the question). I was exhausted with stress at the time as my husband was in the hospital in the middle of packing, he's 84, I'm 83, and I called my eldest and really sounded off to her because of all the stress involved and next day one of my sons drove down from San Francisco and did the lion's share of the work..so it does pay off when you let your kids know exactly how you feel(in this case via another kid) and what you expect..at least in my case it did. What's the worst thing that could happen if you open up to them by either calling or writing? You sound completely overwhelmed and if you've been shouldering your burden by yourself all these years because you didn't want to add to their load, then it's time to clearly let them know you need them now. Good luck!

@hopeful33250 Oh my we certainly do. I have started to realize I am the only one to adjust my attitude as there is no one else to do so. I am guilty of groveling in my own gravy at times.

@afrobin- I agree with much of your suggestions, but your word burden sticks in my craw. I get that we can all become a burden using your word at times to our children or even spouse, but if you continue to let that word take on more power in our lives, there will be always be a reason to be more selfish rather than selfless. It has already become this way in so many instances in todays live choices. Recently I had a conversation with a dear older friend who now lives in the local retirement community and he told me how many of the residents don't even have family that visits them. I'm a fan of still having our loved ones come to live with us as long as we can take care of them, and I realize that is often not possible for everyone, but lets all reconsider the word burden especially when we think of our loved ones.

Personally, I would feel that I am a burden if I depend on my children to ferry me to appointments and run errands for me and take care of my affairs etc... I want to be independent and self reliant as much as possible. I have family and friends who are at their wits end taking care of their aging family members and I don't want to be what I call 'a burden' on my children.

@becsbuddy Stay with us and we can be encouraging. We all need it at times. Mine requires constant maintenance. I may need to visit the chocolate factory though.

@kdo0827 When I hear others talk about taking a walk will solve depression I can get irritated because not everyone can take a walk. I can say that taking a walk has not fixed things. I think when others state thus they do not mean it literally. It does come across as flippant at times. Do agree with you though. Think a walk can cure attitudes??