Too often, the relationship between an adult child and an aging parent who needs support can be strained when the roles seem to get reversed. The child becomes a parent, and the parent, the child. It’s not easy to deal with, especially if you are an elderly person who now needs assistance.
Since you need help, what do you do? Most of the time, these seniors tend to ‘grin and bear it.’ They may not like it, but the last thing they want is to burn a bridge or hurt their own child who is just trying to help them make it, so they don’t want to come back ever again—or at least for a few days.
A home care agency can help mend that relationship, whether it’s been fractured or is just under the constant strain of daily challenges. There are many ways that a professional home care agency can make this a positive influence in your life and your relationship with this aging person.
First, you can simply be their child.
Son or daughter, it doesn’t matter. You get the opportunity to be their child again, not have to try to parent them, tell them what they can or can’t do, or get frustrated because they won’t listen to you.
Completely reversing the relationship dynamics is never going to be easy. You may not want to be the parent to your own mother or father, and maybe you never expected to have to take on this role, but when you do it often leads to strain in the relationship.
When a home care aide steps in to care for your elderly mother or father, you can step back from that role and return to the one you both are most comfortable with—being their child.
Second, you won’t have to wear yourself out.
Most family caregivers have other responsibilities. Whether it’s a career, a couple of part-time jobs, raising children, taking care of the home with young children, or anything else, those responsibilities take time. When you add looking after an aging senior to the mix, you start running out of time. You start wearing yourself out.
When you have a home care aide taking the bulk of responsibility for helping the senior in your life perform their Activities of Daily Living, you can focus on these other important aspects of your life without stretching yourself too thin.
Third, it will reduce stress for everyone involved.
You might be under a tremendous amount of stress and pressure trying to be a family caregiver and trying to parent your parent, but did you know that your mother or father is also under stress?
It’s not easy to feel like you have to rely on other people for things that were once simple, things they helped you do when you were younger.
Also, dealing with health and other aspects of aging can press down on a person, adding more stress and anxiety to their life. Couple that with the unknown, the future, declining health, and other health-related issues, and the stress only builds.
Relying on a professional, experienced in-home care aide can help reduce stress on you and the senior in your life. That caregiver can help your loved one navigate these changing ties based on their experience working with other seniors for many years.
Fourth, the senior may listen to ‘professional’ advice better.
Your advice may be spot on. The things you try to tell your elderly mother or father might be the same things that a professional in-home care aide would say, but they may not listen to you because it’s coming from you.
People tend to listen more closely when it comes from somebody under the cloak of professionalism.
If you or an aging loved one needs Home Care services near Carmichael, CA, contact A Better Living Home Care today (916) 514-7006
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