Manypeoplewronglybelievethatwhenpeoplereacholdage, theirfamiliesplacetheminnursinghomes.Theyareleftinthe 1 ofstrangersfortherestoftheirlives.Their 2 childrenvisitthemonlyoccasionally, butmoreoften, theydonothaveany 3 visitors.Thetruthisthatthisideaisanunfortunatemyth 4 story.Infact, familymembersprovideover 80 percentofthecare 5 elderlypeopleneed.SamuelPrestoon, asociologist, studied 6 theAmericanfamilyischanging.Hereportedthatbythetimethe 7 Americancouplereaches 40 yearsofage, theyhavemoreparentsthanchildren. 8 , becausepeopletodaylivelongerafteranillnessthanpeopledidyears 9 , familymembersmustprovidelongtermcare.Morepsychologistshavefoundthatallcaregivers 10 acommoncharacteristic: Allcaregiversbelievethattheyarethebest 11 forthejob.Inotherwords, theyallfeltthatthey 12 dothejobbetterthananyoneelse.Socialworkers 13 caregiverstofindoutwhytheytook 14 theresponsibilityofcaringforanelderlyrelative.Manycaregiversbelievedtheyhad 15 tohelptheirrelative.Somestatedthathelpingothers 16 themfeelmoreuseful.Othershopedthatbyhelping 17 now, theywoulddeservecarewhentheybecameoldand 18 .Caringfortheelderlyandbeingtakencareofcanbea 19 satisfyingexperienceforeveryonewhomightbe 20 .