5 Tips to Take Care of Your Aging Parents at Home

As parents age, they may need assistance with more tasks such as preparing meals, managing medications and making healthcare decisions. While many adult children are willing to help, it may be met with resistance from the parents. Fortunately, there are ways to take care of your aging parents at home without being overbearing.

Below are five tips to help you provide a safe and supportive environment for your loved one as they face the natural aging process.

1. Focus on Independence

A lot of the reason why parents resist help from others is because they don’t want to lose their independence. As you help take care of your parents, make sure that you’re not just taking over and doing everything for them. Instead, focus on creating an environment where your parents can stay independent.

After all, when you don’t use it, you lose it. Being too overbearing can cause a swift decline in your parents’ physical and mental functioning. Let them take the lead by participating in everyday tasks like cleaning and prepping meals. This is good for everyone.

2. Make the Home Safer

There are many ways to make the home safer for your aging parents. This will relieve some of your worry as well, as you’ll know that they are safest in their home. Below are some examples of what you can do to make the home safer. This article offers more suggestions as well.

• Remove throw rugs
• Keep electrical cords out of pathways
• Install grab bars and rubber mats in the bathroom
• Install brighter lights
• Wear supportive shoes in the home

3. Seek Outside Help

Being a caregiver is a big job, but you are not alone. Enlist outside help from a home health agency like VNA Health Group. These agencies provide specialized care to patients with various needs, from postoperative nursing care to rehabilitation services and speech therapy to live-in private care. This way, you can feel good knowing that your parents are getting the skilled support they need, especially when you can’t be there.

4. Review Finances and Paperwork

Advance planning is an important part of getting older. An adult’s well-being is affected by the consequences of their planning, or lack of planning. Make sure your parents plan for their financial, medical and legal future. Anticipating common age-related life challenges like dementia will allow you and your family to make the best decision for your parents one day.

5. Provide Ready-Made Meals

Having ready-made meals on hand is one of the easiest ways to care for your parents. You can make sure that they are eating healthy, balanced meals that keep their energy and immunity up. Healthy eating also reduces the risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood cholesterol.

You can spend a day meal prepping for the week or choose a senior meal delivery service like Snap Kitchen or Freshly. Even popular meal delivery services like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh can be a great choice if your parents are able to do some light cooking. Also think about cutting up fresh veggies and fruits to keep in the fridge so that your parents are more likely to eat them.

Caring for aging parents can be difficult, but there are ways to ease the burden on all of you. Enlisting help early on is a great way to make sure that your parents are receiving the help and support they need. To learn more about the home health services available from VNA Health Group, contact us today.