Episode 147 – Family Matters: TFAL Talks Taking Care of Family

“As the days go by…it’s the bigger love the family.”

Growing up in communal households, many Filipino Americans sense the unspoken duty to take care of their families.  Whether it’s taking care of one’s own children, or one’s parents, or new, adopted members of one’s family, we all know we have some form of obligation to something outside of ourselves. In this very personal TFAL episode, the crew discusses our roles as caretakers for our families. Did we do that??

All four of us have gone through tremendous life changes over the past year – and we’re not just talking about COVID.  We all found ourselves as new caretakers of other members of our families.  Joe (and his boss, Gerlie) are now raising a young daughter, Ryan is now co-raising the children of his girlfriend, and Elaine and Mike are now taking care of Elaine’s recently widowed mother.  Listen as we discuss our experiences as relatively new family caregivers.  Through it all, we are both embracing as well as learning from the challenges of our new responsibilities.

Do you have any experiences in taking care of your family members?  Let us know!  Email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at (805) 394-TFAL.