Your Changing Relationship With Your Elderly Parents

If you find yourself in charge of the care of your parents, you may find it difficult to transition into a different role. It may be necessary that you take authority over your parents and your parents might also have a difficult time with you performing tasks for them. You will need to use some of these methods to make the transition easier.

Don't Treat Your Parents Like Your Children

Firstly, keep in mind that your parents will not simply become like your children. Unless you are given powers of attorney, your parents will still retain control over their assets and identity. You will not have the same responsibilities for your parents that you would have for your children.

Another challenge of caring for the elderly is that there are fewer models regarding what this looks like. The elderly are living longer, causing children to have burdens placed on them that stretch for much longer period of time. Therefore, you will be learning something that might be very new to you. Also, if your parents had you while you were young, you may need to plan for your parent's elder years as you are also planning for your own golden years. This can be even worse when you don't have children of your own to help.

Consider Your Parent's Emotional Needs

One of the mistakes that children make is that they assume that their elderly parents should simply come live with them after they have had a health crisis. However, most parents would prefer to live independently in their own homes, with in-home care if necessary. The best way to know what your parent wants is to communicate openly and non-judgmentally.

Communication is crucial for understanding what your parent is going through. Common issues faced by the elderly include:

1. Regret over decisions made in the past

2. Declining faculties

3. The loss of friends and family members

To get your parent to open up and discuss issues that he or she faces, you must treat your parent like a peer. By having mutual respect, neither you nor your parent will feel parental. Rather than completely take over, you should address each limitation as it comes.

If your parent is mentally sharp, but has less coordination, for example, you will only want to focus on finding solutions to your parent's coordination problems.

The benefit of hiring at-home care services is that they are specialized in giving the patients they care for as much autonomy as possible. To learn more, contact a company like Accu-Care Nursing Service Inc. with any questions you have.