Taking care of aging parents
Nature has a strange game to play in. When parents are growing old, facing challenges in their day to day life and growing weaker physically, the kids usually are either in their 20’s, 30’s or 40’s – in the peak of their career and neck deep into building a foundation for their future personal life. After all the love, emotions, care and hard work that the parents put in to groom the kids in the best of their capacity, they are suddenly left feeling alone when the kids are busy making a nest of their own. And just about when the career starts flourishing and the personal life starts blooming, the parents start showing all the signs of old age! Way of life we may say but there are some small little gestures which we can do to make them feel loved, secured and cared for. Time and again they need to know that they are not alone, and this is how-
- Talk to them often:
– Most of the parents, specially mothers, all they expect is a call from their beloved child time and again. This is not just to feel cared for but also to be rest assured that the children are doing well, are safe and secured and taking good care of themselves in this big bad world. Regular updates on what the children are up to can give them an overall feeling of wellbeing and satisfaction.
- Visit them often:
As the demands of life increase, it is quite possible that the children are living in different cities or countries for better opportunities and to be able to justify the investments made in them by their parents over the growing-up years. In the hectic schedule most of us follow, when you get a break time it is very tempting to make plans with friends, plan vacations or simply chill. One could try to balance these plans with the mandatory visits to be paid to parents. The best deal is to make a regular schedule of visiting them so that they are not left waiting, wondering or left craving to see you.
- Plan a family getaway:
In recent times, we have studied how having a family vacation or getting out together to a completely different location, in a way that every family member can relax and have a good time is a superb way to bond and make some great memories. There are plenty of tours & travels companies, vacation planners, resorts with facilities and steal deals available these days to make it easy, within budgets and fun for one and all
- Don’t get mad at them:
Let us admit that all of us have snapped at our parents more a couple of times at least. With age and experience, a lot of advice can follow. Also, with age, human beings tend to develop a fixed almost inflexible mindset. The general approach towards life is different considering age gaps as well. It is very easy to get irritated when our parents don’t get it sometimes. A loving pep talk can always help them understand what you are up to and why! At such times having sit them down, explaining plans and actions in detail and talking your heart out.
- Forgive and forget:
We never know what paths the parents have walked in their lives. There are certain people who hold a lot of baggage from the past to end up feeling very angry with their parents about certain things that could have been done better, could have been said better even or undone from the past. According to psychology, a big number of young adults end up blaming their parents for their failures or for the bad habits they acquire. After a certain point especially when parents are weakening physically and growing insecure or unstable emotionally- it is important that we forgive and forget the mistakes or wrong of the past and consciously choose to focus on the positive side alone. This can take your relationship with your parents to a whole new level.
- Medical care:
As they are aging, some parents might get proactive about their health, medical tests and doctor visits while some might just refuse to acknowledge the signs and symptoms of physical discomfort. The later simply reject the idea of taking medical help. It is very important to ensure that your parents are getting the regular medical tests and doctor visits done in order to detect if there is any issue and in case there is one, to be able to solve it in the inception period itself. Helping your parents focus on building an old age where holistic health is of utmost importance gives them longevity, happiness and gracefulness!
Old age is beautiful and with children to support, care and love it’s even better.
