10 Concrete Ways Aging Parents Need Your Help and How You Can Give It
Do you have an aging parent that needs your help?
As our aging parents continue to climb the ladder of life, simple tasks and activities can become complicated. Suddenly, it now feels that you have become the parent to your parent. On top of caring for the demands on your own life, it’s difficult to ensure that you’re providing enough care and support to your aging parent.
For those nodding their head in agreeance, this guide is for you. We’re uncovering ten simple ways that your aging parent needs your help and how you can provide it. These tasks are simple, yet effective means of providing a better life for your parent.
1. Self-Care
Have you noticed that your parent hasn’t quite been taking care of themself physically?
This could be anything from bathing less and failing to change their clothes to no longer keeping up with their typical beauty regime. Either way, these are important changes to note and even more important to address. Unfortunately, too many seniors feel embarrassed or uncomfortable to ask for help with these needs.
Helping your parent to shower or helping to wash their clothes are simple ways to provide assistance. You can also provide transportation or even the financials for them to keep up with their usual beauty routines.
If you feel that your parent is requiring more day-to-day help with their self-care, it might be time to look into further help. Click to learn more on deciding whether assisted living vs nursing home is right for your parent.
2. Household Chores
It’s simple to understand why household chores often fall to the back burner for seniors.
Not only does this require mental ability to remember these tasks, but it also requires physical ability to complete them. When the mind and body are unwell, these tasks are often left unaccomplished.
If you have the time to provide assistance, this is almost always going to be a welcomed favor. Even vacuuming, dusting and removing garbage weekly is helpful.
If you’re able to afford cleaning help, this is also incredibly useful. This helps to ensure that their home is being cleaned and cared for on a routine basis.
3. Driving Duties
It’s safe to say that the task of driving can be difficult for many seniors.
Some seniors may have even had their driver’s license removed from them as a result of their age and ability. Of course, this can be incredibly frustrating and can leave seniors feeling stuck and immobile.
Do your best to ensure that you’re active in offering your driving services. This could be anything from getting groceries and going to the bank to driving them to and from appointments.
4. Meal Prepping
Simply preparing and cooking meals can be challenging for aging seniors.
Even simple tasks such as chopping vegetables and remembering recipes can be troublesome. As a result, it’s difficult to ensure that your parents are getting the right nutrients or even eating basic meals altogether.
Providing pre-cooked meals, taking your parent for groceries or cooking together is a great way to better their eating habits.
5. Appointment and Calendar Reminders
Remembering appointments and simple daily events can be difficult for seniors.
Sometimes, our parents need a simple reminder for everyday events, appointments and important dates throughout the week. Without these reminders, it’s easy for our parents to miss out on important dates.
This can be as simple as a phone call to ensure that your parent remembers these dates. You can also provide your parent with a physical or virtual calendar that is already embedded with important dates.
6. Finances
Have you noticed that bills are piling up or that important accounts are no longer being tended to?
Let’s be honest, finances can be downright complicated altogether. So, when it comes to managing money as a senior, it’s easy to see why issues may begin to surface.
Be sure to provide your parent with financial advice, reminders to pay bills and guidance on managing their money. If you think that further help is required, you can direct them to a financial advisor.
7. Managing Relationships
Human relationships become more complicated as we grow older.
For seniors, human relations become even more complicated. This is because friends and family begin to pass and a senior’s physical and mental health begins to deteriorate. As a result, aging seniors can often experience hardship in managing their relationships.
It’s always helpful to check in with your parents and inquire as to their friendships and relationships with others. Sometimes our parents need encouragement to socialize with others and to reconnect with friends and family.
8. Simple Company
When it comes to caring for your aging parents, sometimes the most important things are the most simple.
Spending time with your aging parent is beneficial to both their physical as well as their mental health. In fact, one study found that seniors who suffer from loneliness have a 64 percent higher risk of dementia.
Do your best to ensure that you are spending physical time with your parent. If this is challenging due to distance or alternate scheduling, be sure to keep in touch via phone and email.
9. Lawncare and Maintenance
Have you noticed that your parent’s garden has become entangled in weeds? Or, what about their grass growing to a foot tall in height?
One of the most unfortunate realities in growing older is the inability to maintain the yard. While it may seem that your parent simply no longer cares for tasks such as gardening or yard maintenance, this is rarely the case. Instead, seniors often forgo the exterior of their home because they can no longer maintain it.
Even monthly, give your parent a hand with their yard maintenance. This could be anything from cutting the lawn and pruning the flowers to removing weeds and watering the plants.
10. Love and Care
At the end of the day, aging parents are people just like us.
That being said, it’s crucial to ensure that you’re providing them with the proper love and care. Unfortunately, this often falls secondary to the more physical demands such as driving, cleaning and providing self-care to your parent.
We’re all guilty of feeling frustration and unease towards our aging parents. Try to counteract these feelings by spending quality time with your parent, calling them and being vocal in your love and care for them.
How to Help Your Aging Parents
If you’re feeling stressed with the health and wellness of your aging parents, you’re not alone. You can consider vitamin IV therapy, which is a fast way to help boost their immune system. It quickly hydrates the body and fuels it to help defend against illness and help with a faster recovery if they do get sick.
With thanks to medical advances and the progression of technology, people are living far longer than before. In fact, the number of Americans aged 65 and over is expected to reach 95 million by 2060. This is nearly double what the 65 plus population was in 2018.
As we grow older, everyday demands become more and more complicated. This is why aging parents often have to depend on their children for assistance with day-to-day living.
Unfortunately, these demands often become too demanding for family and further assistance is required. This is often where assisted living or nursing homes come into play. While this may be a difficult decision, it might also be the right one for aging parents that require high-level assistance.
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