Parenting is a never ending vocation. Vocation, not profession especially because it is not a livelihood but a calling motivated by love. With children, young mothers learn as the children develop and by virtue of the law of practice, both sides learn from each other. But parenting the parents?
Google sources offers shared responsibility. This is so because the parents who have children who in turn are parents themselves, help one way or the other. The closer bond is between the retiree-parent and the children-parents. How do you parent your parents so to speak?
As retiree-parent myself with grown children, some areas can be indicated. Since the retirees have limited funds and are now expected to live with their pensions as main sources of income then the grown children come in to remind their parents to have this in mind. This is no problem to accept if the retiree-parent has a house of her own. Also if the grown children are not married, emergencies can also be bearable because the children can still help. The culture also facilitates this because it becomes easy for the children to reach out having inculcated the value of taking care of our elderly. Most of the retirees however, have improved their orientation. They have paid for their Memorial Plans; they have even expressed their wishes should untoward events come by.
It goes without saying therefore that we are parents to each other. When we love, we become parents to each other. Parenting becomes a vocation borne out of LOVE.