Recently Reminded of the Value an Online Community Could Offer to Adult Only Children

Jeremy — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:45:47 +0000

I was talking with a colleague just the other day who said he’s been unable to focus on work because his mother had to go into the hospital recently. He’s an only child, so he’s been dedicating a lot of time to helping her deal with the paperwork, insurance, finances and general beaurocracy of the California (MediCal) and federal (Medicare) health care systems. If only there was an online group he and others could tap into to share knowledge about this stuff.

I empathized with him, and at the same time, in the back of my mind I was thinking, you know, this is exactly the reason I got this adultonlychild.com domain. He’s not the only one going through this (I know I will, eventually) – and I’m sure other people (only children or otherwise) could probably share a lot with him, regarding how to help his mother through retirement and health issues that occur later in life. Sure, lots of adults go through the same types of things as their parents get older, but only a fraction or them are only children, or don’t have other siblings to help share the burden. And I think that last part creates a distinct set of circumstances and challenges that make dealing with these situations uniquely challenging for only children.

Do you know of any groups or forums online dedicated to discussing these types of issues – from the adult child’s perspective? Maybe there’s a need – and if I find enough people visit this site, over time, maybe this site can meet that need.