Getting dressed every day may be something that your elderly family member finds more difficult every day. The challenges are very real and can range from difficulty manipulating closures to cognitive changes that leave your senior forgetting that she needs to bathe and get dressed. When you’re helping your elderly family member manage these issues, the following tips can make the entire situation a lot easier.
Talk to Your Senior about Making Some Changes
When you start to notice that it’s getting more difficult for your elderly family member to get dressed on her own, you need to talk with her about what’s happening. Addressing the situation head-on keeps your senior from struggling longer than she really should have to. Talk with her about her preferences and what your senior feels would make getting dressed easier.
Avoid Dictating to Your Senior about Getting Dressed
One problem you definitely want to avoid with your elderly family member is dictating to her about what the solutions need to be. Your senior may not have as much control over her life as she used to and that can cause anxiety and frustration. When you deliberately build in as many choices for her as you possibly can, that helps her to focus on what she can do still rather than on what she can’t.
Work with Personal Care at Home
Elder care providers who specifically handle personal care tasks can be a tremendous help to your elderly family member with challenges around clothing. Personal care at home ensures that your elderly family member is able to keep doing what she is able to do, but they’re able to also step in and offer help where necessary. This ensures that your elderly family member is safe and has her needs met.
Put Together a Routine
Routines are crucial for all sorts of situations related to your senior, including getting dressed. When getting dressed is part of your elderly family member’s morning routine, she’s going to expect to face that task each day. Keeping everything simple and ensuring that your elderly family member has the help that she needs makes that routine support her instead of becoming something she dreads.
Don’t Skip Getting Dressed
Something you don’t want to get in the habit of is letting your senior continue to skip changing clothes or getting dressed. It’s okay if your senior’s style veers toward clothing options that are easy to slip on, like clothing that just pulls on. But staying in clothing, especially undergarments, for too long without changing and bathing can cause health issues that are better avoided by simple hygiene.
The biggest thing to remember is that you don’t want to make clothing challenges even more of a difficult situation. If you make all of this a big deal, your elderly family member is going to have more negative associations and it is all going to be even more difficult. It’s far better to stay positive and to make everything as simple as possible.
