<p>This whole website is devoted to sons and daughters that are dreaming of entering great colleges for an education. However after eating dinner with my mother today I finally realized that I was taking for granted the sacrifices that my parents have made. My mother is currently working over 75 hours per week so that we as a family are financially stable, and so that my sister and I can focus a bit more on school.</p>
<p>Now I just can't help but feel guilty. My mother graduated from a technical college and has been working as a personal support worker at hospitals. The work is very demanding and she is always fatigued. Due to work I rarely get to see her, and today when I grasped her hand I found that her skin was very dry and flaky.</p>
<p>I'm hoping that one day I can also contribute large amounts of income so that she can return to school. But she keeps telling me that it's too late for her. She finds it difficult to study (she is studying English since it is not her native tongue). I just feel so helpless and anxious.</p>
<p>For the parents out there, what kind of educational opportunities are out there for older people. What do you do to exercise your mind? How can I convince my mother that it's not too late?</p>
<p>PS: Hand cream or skin care product recommendations would also be appreciated.</p>
<p>Anon, lets start with the easy stuff. Bag Balm is excellent for her hands. Neutrogena hand cream is very thick and offers protection as well. If she works in a hospital, she is probably washing her hands a LOT, and it's drying them out. She needs something fairly thick that will hold in moisture.</p>
<p>As for educational opportunities, there are all kinds of them. The issue becomes cost/benefit. At a certain age, it just doesn't make sense to spend, or borrow, large amounts of money to go to school to learn how to do something that will pay a little more than what you make now. Of course, that isn't taking the 'personal satisfaction' component into consideration at all, but it sounds like your financial situation is such the personal satisfaction isn't really part of the equation at this point in time.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what a 'personal support worker' does. Is that similar to an LNA? LNA's make decent money, and the training for that is fairly short and fairly inexpensive.</p>
<p>As for you feeling guilty. Your mother is doing what she thinks is right to ensure that you don't have to work as hard as she does. Your 'job' is to show you that you are grateful and do what you can to make her burden easier. I hope that you do as much as you can around the house, that you have a job or plan to get one when the time comes, that you don't beg for things you know she can't afford, etc. Be grateful and do what YOU can to help out.</p>