It took a friend’s reminder that Sunday was International Day for Older Persons to make Gasant Abarder realise just how privileged he was to care for his elderly parents – even though it comes with lots of ups and as many downs. In this #SliceofGasant column, he writes that our senior South Africans
is among the country’s most influential media voices. Catch his weekly column here.This, you’ll agree, is a bizarre request from a son to a dad. Think about the order of things and you’ll realise it’s counter-intuitive; had the roles been conventional, it would’ve been a dad scolding a son for failing to take out the trash.
It sometimes feels like my wife Laylaa is closer to my parents than even I am, and my mom and Laylaa often gang up on me. On Sunday, the world marked International Day for Older Persons. It is celebrated on 1 October every year. I would’ve been none the wiser had it not been for my friend Lea-Anne Moses, the executive director of the FunDZA literacy trust, who knows that my parents live with me, Laylaa and our family.
The world has been changing before their eyes and the values they were taught as children have long since shifted. My children are privileged to have their Mama and Papa as their caregivers after school. There is a hot meal waiting and help with homework. There is also a fair bit of bending of the parents’ rules when mom and dad are at work. It is their privilege, they’ll remind us.
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