Using Living Wills to Start the (Other) Tough Conversation With Mom and Dad

We have all heard parents fret about answering their children's questions about where babies come from. Responses to the daunting “how does life begin” inquiry range from evasive stories about birds and bees, to the time-honored “ask your mother,” or these days, “ask your other mother.”

Less storied, but equally important, is the question parents ask children at the other end of the life cycle, namely, “can we discuss the end of my life?” and more pointedly, “will you help me close my final chapter?”

Adult children often address these uncomfortable queries with the same evasion they experienced when they asked how babies were made. Some duck the issue with responses like “you're too healthy to discuss this,” while others refuse to discuss it at all.