Care options for elderly parents

Getting old is a natural process and is unavoidable. While ageing is inevitable, growing old with dignity and independently is a choice to make. As children of the ageing parents, we are responsible to help our beloved parents to age gracefully and peacefully.

How can I make my elderly parents happy?

Making elderly parent happy is not as hard as it may seem. Indeed, some parents may be picky and hard to deal with at times. They may also seem very demanding.

But all they need really is our love, time and patience. They need only those three things. It’s as simple as that.

So how could we give them our love, time, and patience? Here are some suggestions for ways to make our elderly parents happy:

Make them feel needed. Elderly parents are not vocationally active anymore and may feel useful sometimes. You don’t want them to feel like a burden. Therefore, engage them in as many activities as possible. It could be anything, from gardening to looking after your child. They will feel grateful for being able to help.
Organise visits to friends and family. Social bonds are always very important, at any age.
Memories are very precious to seniors. Sometimes, memories are the only thing they have left. Encourage them to admire old photos or talk to them about the old times.
Let them talk about what they want. Don’t discourage them, even if they repeat the same old story over and over again. Immerse in their world, be an active listener.
Play with them at what they like, e.g. cards or board games. Keep them entertained.
Appreciate their era and encourage them to talk about it. Listen to music from their times
Don’t treat them like children and treat them with respect.
Motivate them to look after themselves and care of their personal hygiene. If they have a favourite cosmetics, give it to them as an encouraging gift.
Show them your love by simple little gestures: hugs and kisses. They deserve it.
If needed, organise personal care for the elderly parent

How do I take care of my elderly parents?

Caring for parents in today’s busy society is not that simple. But it is possible to stay vocationally active and still look after our ageing parents.

The “care” does not only mean being a physical carer for the parents, which is obviously a beautiful thing to do. Unfortunately, not everybody is able to care for their parents themselves. Similarly, not everyone has the qualities or the mindset to be a carer.

Therefore, in this context, the term “care” means providing the parents with the right care, whether personally, but also using specialised caring personnel. Qualified carers know how to handle long term care for elderly. It is not a disgrace to arrange external help for your parents. It is true care.

There are several options to organise qualified personal care for the elderly, that could help our parents:

Taking care of your parents yourself — it obviously seems the first option that comes to mind. But as mentioned, it is not always possible to look after our parents ourselves.
Hiring a live-in carer — for many elderly, this is the best option. The person in care can stay in their own house and don’t have to move out into an organised facility.
Care home — it seems to be the most sociable option. Unfortunately, for many seniors, it is not always the best option. It is sometimes hard to get used to the new environment. The organised care home life and a strict regime of meals and visits are also a problem for some elderly persons.

Out of the above options for elderly parents, a live-in carer is the most personalised one. Just one carer looks after one senior, unlike in the care home, where one carer looks after many residents at the same time.

How can I help my lonely elderly?

Loneliness and isolation is very common among seniors. When people get old, they tend to withdraw from social life. Many of the elderly persons live alone. There are also fewer possibilities to engage in social activities. This is either due to the fact that many friends of the elderly person already passed away, or the spouse has passed away. It may be also because they simply don’t want to socialise.

How to fight off our elderly parents’ loneliness? Here are some tips for beating loneliness of ageing parents:

Visit them as frequent as possible. Visits in person are better than just a phone call for a number of reasons. You would be able to see how your parent is doing, or if they need any help with their daily activities.
Increase contact frequency. Make regular calls, without any specific reason. Make them look forward to these regular, perhaps even daily, calls.
Take the parents to events they may enjoy. It might be a concert of the singer they like, a standing in comedian show or social activities they like.
Engage your parents in a social gathering in their community.
Make them go out more. Whether it is only for shopping, visiting friends or a walk, it is always worth sneaking out of the house.
Teach your parents to use technology to maintain social bonds. A tablet, a computer or a mobile — all those gadgets are not difficult to operate, but very useful at the same time.

Live in care for my elderly parents

It may be not obvious to know when the parents actually need additional care and help. There are though few signs telling that your parents need some extra help if they are:

suffering from a chronic disease
struggling with looking after themselves, e.g. have problems with personal hygiene
struggling with everyday household chores
not engaging in their favourite activities anymore

Live in care is long term care for the elderly. The carer lives with our parents and helps them with all range of tasks.

The cost of private home care for elderly

When it comes to the cost comparison, the care home is not necessarily cheaper than hiring a live-in carer. For the same price, we get the care that is simply better and more personalised.

The cost of private home care for elderly with Veritas Care starts from as little as £623 per week. To get more information about elderly care costs, please visit our pricing website.