The USA Today just ended a week-long series of articles dealing with the difficulties of dealing with taking care of one’s parents.  As science is able to keep us alive much longer than our bodies’ ability to care for itself, a growing number of children are finding themselves in the role of becoming the "parent" to their parents.  Among the advice given is to have a will, power of attorney for health care, and power of attorney for financial matters, in place well before the issue of competency arises.