ageing

 

You might have seen a post doing the rounds on social media about a ninety-eight year old woman moving into a care home to care for her sick eighty year old son. It is utterly adorable and she talks about the fact that you never stop becoming a mother, no matter how old you become. But it got me thinking about the other way around, and how we can help our parents as they get older. Being prepared is the best way to be, so what can we do now to ensure that our parents keep in good health and are taken care of? Here are a few ideas for you.

 

Keep Conversations Open

 

Talking about this kind of thing can never been to pleasant. But if you’re all prepared as a family to keep the conversation open and honest, then it can make things much easier. Arranging a time to talk as a family could be a good idea, but try to keep it away from a celebratory time like Christmas. Arrange a specific time if you need to have ‘the talk’ with your parents about their wishes and what might happen going forward. It might be a little uncomfortable, but it needs to be done so you know exactly what they are thinking about things.

 

Observe Their Health

 

Like the woman in the article, your parents could be fighting fit for a long, long time. But keeping a close eye on them and their health is a good idea. See them as often as you can. Do they start to forget things? How is their driving? It can also be a good idea to look into the support system that they have where they live. In this day and age, there are not many of us that live too close by to our parents. So what are their neighbours like? Are there people that they are regularly in contact with? Getting their details can be helpful in case of an emergency.

 

Know Their Wishes

 

As stated above, it is important to keep the conversation going. It stops things from being awkward, but it also lets you know what their wishes are. From funeral plans to nursing homes or residential care, you need to know what they would like to do if and when it comes to it. It could be a good idea to look at a site like the Porthaven residential care one to see what options are available and decide what might be better for them. Sometimes you might just need to ask them their wishes instead of being cryptic. You know them best so decide what you think might work best for them.

 

Make Changes To Their Living Situation

 

It might be as simple as needing to make some changes to their living situation. Think about where they live and what you could do to help. Could it just be the case of getting a stairlift installed or moving them to a bungalow to make things easier? When you’re in touch regularly you’ll know what it best to help them.