Should the children have a responsibility towards aged parents?

In case it is made legally mandatory that after the adulthood, children should take care of their aged parents, it would mean that in such a case, it will be the responsibility of the children to take care of the aged parents in the same way in which the parents are legally required to take care of their children. Historically, aged parents always require the support of their children however in a number of countries children are not legally required to provide for their parents.

Points in favor of making children responsible for taking care of aged parents:
1. It is important that adult children are made responsible for taking care of their aged parents because the parents have also taken care of their children during childhood. Therefore it is natural that the children should also be made to look after their parents when they grow old. Making this responsibility of the children legal is also necessary because these days, there are a number of children who simply abandon their parents and do not take care of their parents when they grow old and need the support of their children.

2. At the same time, making this responsibility obligatory for the children can also be beneficial for the children. If a law is passed according to which, the children are legally required to look after their parents, in such a case, the government will also undertake other measures that are required to support this law and help the people in following the law. For example if the children are too poor to take care of their aged parents, or in case the children are not comfortable to leave their parents at home alone, or believe that the aged parents are a burden, in such a case, policies and other measures will be adopted by the government which can help the aged parents in such a case and also to help the children facing these problems.

3. With the increase in age, the ability of the people to take decisions for themselves also reduces and as a result, in some cases, a person is required who should have the responsibility to take care of such persons during their old age. Generally, the adult children also need a power of attorney from the old parents to manage the affairs of their parents. It is generally done by most of the people in one way or the other therefore there is no problem in imposing the legal obligation on the children to take care of their parents during their old age.

4. Parents or grandparents generally do not want to depend on their children for support. However, with the rising cost of living and due to other circumstances, sometimes the parents are forced to look towards their children for help and support. Therefore it is now the duty of the children to look after their parents as they have made a lot of sacrifices in raising the kids. However, there are a number of children who do not want to fulfill their obligations towards their parents. Briefly speaking, while it is the moral obligation of the children to look after their parents, there are many children who are not fulfilling this responsibility. As a result, in some cases it becomes necessary to take the help of the legal system to impose this responsibility of children. Even if all the children are not in a position to support their parents financially, however there are many other ways in which the children can help and support their parents.

On the other hand, there are many people who believe that children do not have responsibilities towards the parents. According to these people:-
1. Sometimes the child may be disabled, abused or adopted or there could be other siblings also. Therefore, such points need to be considered while claiming that the children should be made responsible towards their parents. For example, an adopted child may not be aware of his or her real parents and these parents may suddenly appear and at the same time, the foster parents of such a child may not have other children. Therefore in such a case, it will be really difficult to decide that such a child should have responsibility towards his foster parents or real parents. Such a difficulty in imposing responsibility may also arise in case of the abused children. Therefore a child who has been physically or verbally abused during the childhood may not be willing to maintain any relations with his or her parents due to the treatment received by such a child during younger years, but on the other hand, the parents may believe that despite their maltreatment, the child still has a responsibility to take care of them during their old age. Another problem exists in case of physically or mentally disabled children as these children will also lack the ability to look after their parents when they are old or in some cases, these children are dependent on the support of others. In the same way, the problem may also arise in case of siblings when some of them want to share the expenses but one child wants to take care of the Barents single handedly.

2. Another argument that can be given against making it a legal obligation of the children to take care of their parents is that it cannot be denied that the parents have given life to their children and also have taken care of them but people still dump their parents. There are complicated emotional problems involved and it has to be recognized that love should come from within the heart and it cannot be enforced by law. Therefore instead of making it a legal responsibility of the children to take care of their parents, other measures should be taken like campaigns aimed at improving relations between parents and children so that the children themselves feel that it is their responsibility to look after their its parents. On the other hand, in case the children are required by the law to take care of their aged parents, in some extreme cases, a child may also think to get rid of his or her parents quickly.

3. At the same time, if laws are introduced which require that the children have to take care of their aged parents, some terrible parents may also go for having more kids for profit. Therefore, such as children may force their child to pay for them once the child achieves adulthood. In this way, the whole idea that the children should be required by law to support their parents appears to be silly.

4. Another argument that can be given against making it the responsibility of the children to take care of their parents is that the children were not given birth by their parents to become their caretakers. A number of parents do not want that there should be a law which provides that their children should support them once they achieve adulthood. These parents are only interested in the growth and development of their children. On the other hand, if a law is introduced due to which, the children are struck with their parents to look after them, the children may not be able to achieve their full potential and this is not a welcome prospect for the parents.

5. In the same way, while it is natural for the children to look after their parents due to love and affection, it should not be made a legal responsibility of the children to take care of the parents. Similarly, the children should not be tied down by any law to their parents. Apart from some situations like in case of seriously ill parents, the children are not responsible for their parents. In any case, it is not the legal or moral responsibility of the parents to take care of the child once the child achieves adulthood, in the same way, such responsibility should not be imposed on the children also.