You are thinking about all the ways you can help your elderly loved one and you have ended up right here. The truth is that many family members are concerned about their elderly loved ones. They think they are lonely, stressed, frustrated, and possibly going to be unhealthy, too. These things could be true. However, it might be a good idea to focus on the positive, so you can best encourage and help your elderly loved one.
Filling in the Gaps
The best way to encourage and help your elderly loved one is to fill in the gaps. This can be started by having some conversations with your elderly loved one. That way, you can find out what they do, in fact, need help with. You don’t just want to go over to their house and start giving out orders or taking over chores without knowing if they need help. By having these conversations, you can start filling in the gaps where help is actually needed.
Getting Others to Help
Do you have a lot already going on in your life, but you want to help your elderly loved one, too? It can be tough to balance everything, but you don’t have to do it on your own. You can hire 24-hour home care providers to help during the evening and nighttime hours. That way, you can have those hours to take care of other things you need to do. These home care providers can also stay with your elderly loved one in the morning or daytime, if needed, too. You can come over when you have the time.
Good Listening Skills
Another way that you can help and encourage your elderly loved one is by practicing good listening skills. How are you supposed to know what your elderly loved one needs if you aren’t actually paying attention to what they are saying? For instance, people often jump to conclusions when they hear someone say something. You might jump to the conclusion that your elderly loved one can’t live alone, when they are really just saying they don’t want to be alone at night. If that is the case, you can just hire 24-hour home care providers to stay at your elderly loved one’s house through the nighttime hours. That way, they don’t feel lonely or scared staying on their own. This is something that senior citizens generally want after their spouse passes away, but it can happen at other times, too.
Conclusion
Do you want to help and encourage your elderly loved one? If so, the first step is to talk to them and see what it is they need help with. After you have done this, you can work with the 24-hour home care providers to see who is going to help your elderly loved one and when. It would also help to practice good listening skills, so you are fully listening to what it is that your elderly loved one really wants.
Sources
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/aging-place-growing-older-home