• Expect and accept that your parents will grow old. Aging is not a disease; it is part of the life cycle
• Start talking to your parents now about what they want as they age. If they want to stay in their own home, should they be looking at home modifications to make it easier to go up/down stairs or to use the bathroom if a wheelchair is required?
• Understand the critical role of legal and financial planning. Start to gather information about your parents' financial security; learn where original documents are stored. Ensure your parents have prepared necessary documents such as wills, advance directives and powers of attorney. Be prepared for some emotional encounters but don't give up.
• Talk to your siblings about how you plan to divide responsibility for your parents' well-being.
• If a parent suffers from a particular disease — heart or stroke, arthritis, diabetes, dementia — learn all you can now about the disease and what a caregiver can expect as the disease progresses.
• Ask questions about the health care system in your parents' province; understand what alternate accommodations exist, how home care operates, what social services are available.
• Talk to your peers about how they are facing the challenges of eldercare, the problems they have encountered and solutions they have found.
• Finally, take an objective look at yourself. Are you prepared to be a caregiver for a parent? How will you accomplish this, along side your other roles as a business professional, parent, spouse?

Some don'ts

• Don't make promises you may not be able to keep i.e. "you can always live with us" or "I'll never put you in a home"
• Don't concentrate on what your parents can't do; focus on maximizing what they can do

Some do's

• Become educated and aware
• Understand and accept your feelings
• Talk with others in your situation
• Involve and empower your parents