Seasoned Citizens

You raised some children, and they grew up; and depending upon one’s values, maybe they became successful, maybe not.

But they survived all the trials, traumas, tumbles and third-degrees. And you survived the tantrums, tumults, tests and temptations.

It’s a big responsibility to take a living person and make sure that person turns out to be as close to ideal as you can hope.

Who taught you to do that? Did you go to school to learn parenthood?

No? What did you do, read a book?

It’s amazing that our society will create schools that teach everything from raising rabbits to roofs, but when it comes to raising humans, we wing it.

How would you like to be put into a hospital and cared for by a staff who wing it? Imagine yourself as a little baby, placed in the arms of a man or woman who doesn’t know how to grill a cheese sandwich, let alone burp you.

It sounds astounding, but it’s true — isn’t it?

“I’ve had 30 years dealing with parents and kids. I think parents need help. There’s a definite hole in parenting. The one thing we don’t educate our society for is the raising of children,” said George Albert, principal of St. Mary’s School.

“Children need secure homes, caring homes. If they don’t get that environment, it manifests itself in one way or another.”

Relief is on the way. John Bapst Memorial High School will play host to a parenting workshop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 12.

This is open to the public for the cost of $5 a session. There are two two-hour sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Proceeds will benefit St. Mary’s School in Bangor.

According to Pauleena Seeber, who is co-chairman of this “Family Affair” with Pros Bennett, workshops include: how to help your child succeed in school; discipline is not a dirty word; teen-age, the crisis years; single parents; how to talk to your child about sex; substance abuse in the family; marriage; and caring for aging parents.

Send them out and they’ll be back with grandchildren. But there is another end to this spectrum — the aging parents. It’s your turn as the roles reverse.

One of the workshops in this program is learning how to “care for aging parents and ways of helping our aging, ailing parents while maintaining our emotional composure.”

Laura Tuttle, clinical services coordinator at Bangor District Nursing, will conduct this session.

“I feel this is an important issue because caring for elderly parents can bring about a lot of emotional, as well as financial, stress for a family,” said Tuttle.

Tuttle also said that only 6 percent of the American population is housed in nursing homes.

Some of the topics she will cover are health, home care, the different agencies and their services, programs associated with Hospice, Lifeline, home-delivered meals, and respite care, different insurances and what they pay for, and different state programs available to help with funding.

No, parenthood doesn’t stop when they leave the nest — it’s never over ’til it’s over.