SPANISH FORT, Ala. — How do you tell the parent who taught you how to drive it’s no longer safe for him to be behind the wheel?

Or ensure her physical therapy exercises are completed every day when you have a job and three kids of your own?

Or take a weekend for “yourself” without feeling selfish and guilty?

These questions have plagued Gerry Flynt of Spanish Fort for the past 10 years while she’s tried to balance the care of her aging parents with that of her own family.

 “It’s tough. There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for them, but sometimes you just need to step away, and then you think, ‘But these are the people who gave me the life I have now, and I owe them more than this,’” she said.

Providence United Methodist Church’s Rev. Bob Sweet said people like Flynt are exactly the reason his congregation began hosting a support group for caregivers of aging parents.

“It’s about reaching out to people who are going through the same thing you are and remembering that you don’t have to go through these things alone,” said Sweet, recognizing firsthand how demanding those situations can be.

“There are often a lot of painful things going on in times like this, but it helps so much if you can talk to someone else who’s already been through and managed to find the humor in some of this,” he said.

Although the group was started as a Providence ministry, Sweet said the group is open to anyone in the community in need of a helping hand and meets at the church monthly.

The June meeting begins at 6 p.m. this evening and adopts a new tool with the introduction of the book “Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life” by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.

“The book’s been around for a while, but we decided it could be very helpful because it really talks about how hard it is as kids to set boundaries for living our own lives when it’s our parents we’re dealing with. It’s really resonated with a lot of people, and we thought incorporating it (into the support group) might help,” Sweet said.

Above all, Sweet said he encourages attendance to help participants understand that even though they might feel overwhelmed and abandoned in their situation, “they are not alone.”

Providence UMC is located at 32200 Jimmy Faulkner Drive between Spanish Fort High School and Spanish Fort Middle School. For more information, call 51-626-2510.