How To Take Care Of Your Elderly Parents In The Best Way

Old age is often prone to feelings such as boredom, isolation, and loneliness. Every aging individual suffers from these problems. As a child, it is your responsibility to take proper care of your elderly parents and to be there whenever they need your support.

Caring for your aging parents should be your top priority. Even when you are too busy with work or other activities, sparing time for your parents and taking care of family is a must. Your aging parents need you. Here’s how you can be there for them:

Assess their needs:

As a child, your parents would often assess your needs. They would fulfill all your demands, whether buying your favorite toy or taking you to your favorite park. As your parents grow older, they become a little cranky. They may as well start making demands like little kids.

It is essential to assess their needs. Be an ear to your parents. Listen to their problems. Ask them if they need anything and fulfill their demand, regardless of how big or small they are. Fulfill all their wishes like they had fulfilled yours. If they find it difficult and time-consuming to put on and off their clothes, velcro clothing for seniors will make their life easier.

Give emotional support:

As your parents start getting older, they also begin to feel lonelier. Do not ignore your parents in this situation. Extend your emotional support to them. Take out time for them.

The process is simple. You can sit with your parents after your office hours or include them in your daily activities. For example, sit together while taking lunch or dinner, watch television with them, talk to them about their day. Your presence will be more than enough to lift their mood.

Take care of their health:

Seeing your parents dealing with a disease or health condition is the most painful situation that you would ever experience. Old age brings with it many health issues. It is when you must take care of your parent’s health.

Take your parents on regular health check-ups to monitor their overall health. In case they are suffering from any health condition, accompany them to the doctor at every appointment. Check their medication and feed them on time. Enroll your parents under medical insurance so that you don’t get overburdened with the expenses.

Support them financially:

It is important to extend financial aid to your parents even if they are receiving OAS payments. The factors such as bad health or retirement may stop their free flow of income. They may run out of money and may not ask you for it. Be attentive to all their financial needs and requirements. Your parents need financial support. The earlier you understand it, the better it is for your relationship.

Calculate the cost of their potential living situation and bear all their expenses related to food, essential supplies, home safety modifications, caregiving supplies, if any.

Take care of the basics:

If you live away from your parents, it is imperative to take care of their home safety basics. Leaving your parents alone in their old age is a big no. However, if the existing circumstances do not allow you to live together, do not forget to take care of their home and health.

You can hire a caregiver service for your parents to ensure that they are well-taken care of. Alongside this, it is essential to monitor the condition of the home they live in. Take care of all the wear and tear in the home and call for safety measures on account of any wear and tear.

Takeaway:

Even though you can explore assisted healthcare programs for your parents, do not forget that they need you to be there for them. Some programs like Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program allow you to take care of your aging parents and pay you for the same.

Your parents do so much for you. It’s time you show how much you care for them.