A.
Many people wrongly believe that when people reach old age, their families place them in nursing homes. They are left in the 1 of strangers for the rest of their lives. Their growing children visit them only occasionally, but more often, they do not have any 2 visitors. The truth is that this idea is an unfortunate myth and imaginary story. In fact, family members provide over 80 percent of the care that elderly people need. Samuel Preston, a sociologist, studied 3 the American family is changing. He reported that by the time the average American couple reaches 40 years of age, they have more parents than children. 4 , because people today live longer after an illness than people did years 5 , family members must provide long term care. More psychologists have found that all caregivers share a common characteristic: all caregivers believe that they are the best 6 for the job. In other words, they all felt that they 7 do the job better than anyone else. Social workers 8 caregivers to find out why they took on the responsibility of caring for an elderly relative. Many caregivers believed they had 9 to help their relative. Some stated that helping others made them feel more useful. Others hoped that by helping someone now, they would deserve care when they became old and 10 . Caring for the elderly and being taken care of can be a mutually satisfying experience for everyone who might be involved.