A tough topic to broach is being male and taking care of aging parents.  Frankly, the statistics are stacked against men, largely because help less than women.  Also, I think men might help in different ways from women.  But back to the basics, men help less.  If I look at my brother-in-laws, they are almost non-existent regarding my parents' care and help, while my sisters are more active in the care of their husband's extended family.

Statistics and Statements such as:

The impact [of caregiving], however, has a greater affect on women than men. Overall, women in the survey were more likely to have provided hands-on long-term care than men (58 percent of women, 48 percent of men) and were more likely to report hardships resulting from the caregiving.

Long-Term Caregiving Takes a High Toll on Family, Work Life
By Michael Reinemer, The National Council on the Aging

Approximately 72 percent of caregivers of loved ones who are
functionally impaired are female.  Daughters constitute 29 percent. Sons make up only 8 percent of caregivers, and husbands account for 13 percent of the caregiver population.

Caregiver Characteristics (pdf)
by C.E. Barber

No doubt it is more common that women are the primary caregivers for adult parents, but it does leave an empty area for men who are the primary care giver.  As I noted in the first paragraph above, I also think men help in a different way, perhaps more through actions than emotional support.  Perhaps because of this, it is less emtionally draining on men, but this does not mean it requires less effort.  I know in my interaction with my parents, if they present a problem, I immediately look for a solution.  This might not be what they want or what they need, but it is my first reaction and my instinctual reponse.  More often the case, especially with my mom, is that she needs a place to vent.  Eventually we may pull a problem out of this venting session but that is not her immediate goal.  She just needs to get this crap off her chest and into the open so it is not bogging her down.  However, because I now have an open "vent" and no immediate plan to solve anything, I am left wondering what to do.  In most cases, if someone needs to vent, they vent, you listen, it helps them, you both move on.  For me, I have a hard time moving on after the venting session.  Without "doing something" I feel that I did not help with the problem in any way... perhaps I made it worse?  Since a majority of books and publications are geared toward female caregivers, this stress from caregiving is often ignored.  I hope that a site like this might bring people together regardless of their age, gender or family situation to help find common solutions (there I go again, solving a...) to their problems.