Book Club
Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old by Steven Petrow
A Highly Judgmental, Unapologetically Honest Accounting of All the Things Our Elders Are Doing Wrong
An award-winning journalist’s irreverent take on aging, with special relevance for nurses.
His Parents’ Experience
Personally, I’m not great at taking advice — anyone’s advice — but when I picked up Steven Petrow’s book Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old at my local bookstore last fall, I wondered if this book (subtitled A Highly Judgmental, Unapologetically Honest Accounting of All the Things Our Elders Are Doing Wrong) could speak to nurses caring for aging or elderly patients, or their own loved ones.
Steven Petrow is an award-winning journalist and TED Talk speaker who has written several books. Petrow says the book started as a list of criticisms of how his parents (who were then in their ‘70s) behaved and were treated by others as they got older. It took on a new meaning for him after his parents passed.
To Do Today, Tomorrow, and at “The End”
Stupid Things is a collection of 43 short essays (plus a forward and an epilogue). The first section is a list of stupid things to avoid doing today, such as refusing to take your medicine or get your hearing tested, lying about your age (including on dating sites), and lying to your doctor
The second section includes stupid things to avoid doing tomorrow, such as falling for financial scams, hoarding, or eating food that’s past its sell-by date. All of these are topics nurses can easily reinforce with patients.
The third section, which I found the most worthwhile, discusses stupid things not to leave for “the end,” from cleaning out your house so someone else doesn’t have to do it when you’re gone and being clear about what you want included in your obituary, to more philosophical topics like being grateful for the life you’ve had, not dwelling on disappointments, and never missing a chance to tell a family member or friend that you love them.
Petrow’s lightweight prose style won’t appeal to everyone (the publisher recommends this book to “fans of David Sedaris and Nora Ephron”), but I found that nearly every essay was worth my time.
There are plenty of people who are disinterested in or incapable of planning for a future which includes their own declining health. But, for the rest of us, especially nurses who work with the elderly in a clinical setting, Petrow gives us plenty to think about, in small, funny, sometimes poignant doses.
CHRISTINE CONTILLO, RN, BSN, PHN, is a public health nurse with more than 40 years of experience, ranging from infants to geriatrics.
In this Article: Aging, Public Health
