by Leigh Ann Otte<\/p>\n
Do you know some elderly people\u2014perhaps your own parents\u2014who are just plain argumentative or curmudgeonly?<\/p>\n
The author of the Help! Aging Parents<\/em> blog\u2014a counselor who identifies herself as Susan\u2014has an interesting theory about this. Maybe sometimes, they’re negative in part because they rarely hear anything positive themselves.<\/p>\n In a post about arguing effectively with elderly parents, Susan casually inserts this thought:<\/p>\n It seems to me that as people get older (another generalization and I\u2019m well aware generalizations don\u2019t apply to everyone), they get less compliments (once called \u201cstrokes\u201d) and thus the less ego-gratification\u2026.meaning their egos may be more fragile. And they become more sensitive to imagined slights and criticism. It\u2019s easy to see how living alone can contribute.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What do you think? Could compliments play a role in helping an argumentative elderly parent get out of a rut?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"