Three Easy Steps to Make Sure Your Elderly Relatives Remain Healthy Later in Life
When you’re a parent, your life is already filled with all the things you need to do to look after your children. It’s also often the case that the age we become parents is the same age when our parents begin to need more support. The responsibility of looking after your elderly relatives while looking after the youngest members of your family can be extremely daunting, but there are several things you can do to help. Here are three easy steps to make sure your elderly relatives remain healthy in their senior years.
Get them the support they need
The sad reality is as our loved ones get older, there will be some tasks that they struggle to complete. This could be something that they loved doing every day when they were younger, like cooking a meal or walking to the shops. Unfortunately, muscle pain and even memory loss could make these things they loved near impossible to complete in their senior years without support.
If they need help with a lot of tasks, it can often be hard to give them the level of support they need, especially if you’re looking after your own children at the same time. That is why it is so important to let others help you in providing support for your loved one. Many people feel like they’re being selfish putting their loved one in a care home instead of looking after that family member themselves. The most selfish thing would be to let your pride get in the way of them getting the support they need. There are many practical tasks that would be near impossible for you to do while looking after your own children. These include preparing them meals throughout the day, helping them move around and even providing activities to keep them mentally stimulated.
Keep tabs on them
While we can’t be present in their lives 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are lots of ways we can track what they’re doing without being with them. For example, if they need to take a number of different pills throughout the week, divide these into a weekly pill planner for them. That way, you can easily spot if they’ve failed to take an important medication on a particular day. As well as this, keep an eye on what food they have in their cupboards to make sure they’re eating nutritious meals. If they have a smartphone, you could even install a tracking app on their phone to check they’re safe at home when they should be.
Reduce the chance of injury
A trip or a fall could cause a serious injury for someone of the older generation. To reduce the chances of this happening, check their home for any obstructions they could trip or slip on. Install rubber mats in their bath and shower, as tiled floors like the ones found in bathrooms can become extremely slippery when wet.