In today’s economy, there doesn’t ever seem to be enough money to provide in-home care for our aging parents, and this is one of the reasons so many families are moving mom and dad in with them. The transition may not be as smooth as you’d like it to be but remember, your parents have lived a lifetime as self-sufficient individuals. Accepting help may be hard for them to handle, so here are a few tips that just might make it easier on everyone involved.
Give Them Their Own Space
Perhaps one of the things your aging parents might have the most difficulty getting used to is the busy lifestyle of a family after so many years of living by themselves. This might especially be the case if you have teens in the home who seem to have forgotten where the volume control is on their stereos. The best way to ease your parents back into family life is to give them their own space, hopefully on the other side of the house from the teens. Some families convert garages or attics into extra living space, which works quite well, but if that is not an option at least keep them as far away from the ‘noise’ as possible.
Take Charge of Their Medications
This is one of the main reasons why so many families realize it’s time for a change. Mom or dad simply forget to take their medications at scheduled times and some of the medicines they take could cause unwanted side effects. Sometimes it is difficult to swallow pills and on occasion, your parent has aspirated trying to get larger pills down with liquid.
Gel thickeners like Simply Thick are formulated in such a way as to make liquids thicker, even to the consistency of a pudding, to make swallowing easier. You might want to give this a try if you have a parent who has trouble swallowing pills or capsules. You’ll find they can get them down much easier with a thicker drink.
Help Them Feel Wanted and Useful
Can you imagine how it must feel to no longer be needed or wanted? While this is not the case by any stretch of the imagination, that is exactly what most elderly parents feel. There was a time when you came to them for advice on every little thing, but those times are long in the past. Perhaps you could start by asking their advice on little things like what to cook for dinner or where this new photo frame you bought should be hung. Bring them slowly into the fold and watch how quickly they blossom when they feel useful once again.
No one ever said the transition of moving aging parents into the home would be easy, but it’s something that must be done. You love your parents beyond words, so you want the very best for them and this is what you feel is best. It will take time but with love and effort, it can be done. Just take your time and know you really are doing the right thing.
