Raising Your Parents

In this episode of Dance of Communication , we explore capacity as a form of boundary. Caring for aging parents often pushes us beyond what we can realistically carry, leading to burnout, resentment, and strained relationships. This conversation helps caregivers identify their emotional, physical, and time capacity, communicate limits with clarity and compassion, and release guilt around doing “ev...

In Part 6 of Dance of Communication, we tackle one of the most overlooked—and emotionally charged—topics in caregiving: time boundaries. From setting “business hours” for calls and visits to balancing your parents’ needs with your own work, family, and rest, this episode explores how to create structure without guilt. We discuss appropriate call times, shared calendars, and how to respectfully add...

When parents begin to age, sibling dynamics often shift into a “good cop, bad cop” rhythm—one sibling enforcing boundaries and hard conversations, the other stepping in to take action and keep the peace. In this episode, we explore how these roles form, how they can create tension if left unspoken, and how siblings can intentionally work together as strategic partners instead of opposing forces. B...

In Part 4 of the Dance of Communication series, we shift the focus from parent-child conversations to the often-unspoken partnership between siblings. Before we can show up as a unified team for our parents, we have to understand what shaped that team in the first place. In this episode, we reflect on our upbringing, family roles, and the patterns we observed in our parents’ communication—both the...

In Part 3 of the Dance of Communication series, we move from awareness to action. This episode is all about practical strategies you can use when conversations with your parents start to feel heavy, emotional, or stuck. We walk through and demonstrate tools like using humor to diffuse tension, the sandwich method to deliver hard messages with care, and third-party interventions when conversations...

In Part 2 of our Dance of Communication series, we explore how the words we choose can either calm a conversation or quietly set it on fire. When roles begin to shift with our parents, it’s easy for discussions to turn tense—especially when language feels blaming, accusatory, or final. This episode focuses on the power of “I” and “we” statements —simple shifts in wording that help reduce defensive...

At some point, many of us wake up and realize the roles have changed. The people who raised us now need us—and no one really talks about how hard that can be. In this first episode, host Kandice Stewart shares her personal journey into caregiving and the moments that led her to create Raising Your Parents . What began as simply helping out slowly became navigating big decisions, emotional conversa...

The Dance of Communication begins with something deeply personal—friendship, shared history, and the moment when adult children realize the rhythm with their parents has changed. In this first episode, I introduce my college best friend and co-host, Marjanee, who—like me—is navigating life as a daughter raising aging parents. We come from strikingly similar backgrounds: parents married for over 50...