Taking care of your elderly parents can be a challenge. While you may want to prevent them from having to enter a nursing home or assisted living facility, it can be difficult to provide all the care that they need on your own. Hopefully, you have family or friends who will be able to help. If assistance is scarce, you’ll need to manage your time wisely. This will ensure that your parents are well taken care of, and you need to take care of yourself as well.
Let Them Get Involved
Depending on the physical and mental challenges that your parents are facing, it’s important that you let them help themselves and others in any way that they can. If they are living with you, there may be ways that they can help you with your children or household. Have their grandchildren read to them for school practice, or ask your parents to help fold some laundry. Letting your parents maintain a sense of independence can help to improve their overall happiness levels. It also helps to keep them active and mentally stimulated.
Make Your House Ready
Your house is likely dangerous for your elderly parents. There are a number of changes that can help prepare for their arrival. Slips and falls can have serious consequences for seniors. Take a look at the safest ways for your parents to get in and out of the house. Support bars can be installed at entryways and by bathtubs and toilets. Try to minimize things like loose area rugs and wires that go across pathways and can be tripped over. If you require nursing assistance, ask the professionals what you can do to make your home more accessible.
Make Time for Yourself
It’s incredibly important that you take some time for yourself when you’re acting as the main caregiver of the family. If you have other family members who can step in, take advantage of this opportunity. If you need some outside help, you can hire a respite care provider. A trained professional will assist with your elderly parent’s needs while you’re away. You can also use nursing care to assist with things like bathing.
Caring for your aging parents can be stressful, but it can also be a very rewarding time in all of your lives. This is a special time that you can spend with your parents. Enjoy the gift of being able to take care of them when they need you most.
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