Last update: April 30, 2015
Reaching an advanced age while fully enjoying life is not that difficult if you can rely on children who know how to help their parents at this stage.
Do you visit or contact your parents regularly? Do you know what they need on a daily basis? Among brothers, do you share the responsibility of taking care of them, already elderly? Are you attentive to their medical checks and treatments? Do you stimulate them to stay active?
All of these aspects are essential for yours parents keep themselves healthy, both physically and emotionally and mentally. After all, what matters is that they are well and this does not only benefit them, but also you who will live better.
Retired, but active
If there's one thing that can help your body and mind stay healthy, it's being active. And if their body and mind are active, then they will also be healthy. There is no need for a young person to find an activity, it is enough to receive the stimulus from loved ones and the surrounding environment.
Any activity is good for our aging parents. The important thing is to occupy the body and / or mind. Gathering with friends, attending courses of interest to them, doing jobs according to their abilities, visiting attractive places, such as a museum or a park. All of this can help your parents feel cheerful, in touch with the world and forget about the typical pains of old age.
Understanding and patience
If you don't have enough understanding and patience, old age can become an unhappy stage for both your parents and you. The basic rule is to put yourself in their shoes.
Think about how you would feel in their condition: without work, with weakened health, without energy, with much less social life and deprived of everything you had in your youth. If you can understand where your parents are, it will be easier for you to understand their moments of frustration, moodiness or urgent need for help.
Permanent contact
They may not need to see you every day, but your parents certainly feel comforted if they hear from you all the time. Maintaining contact gives them confidence, because they know that if they need something they can quickly locate you.
Knowing that they are still an important part of their children's livesit also helps their mental health. Today's world is helping with new technology: using e-mail, cell phones and social networks between siblings, there are no more excuses for not coordinating the responsibility for the attention to be given to parents.
Economic support
If your parents receive a pension, then their financial situation may be, at least in part, resolved. However, if what they receive monthly turns out to be insufficient, it could lead to stress and depression in them, as well as other health problems..
Whenever possible, offer them a monthly fee for their expenses or to pay for some service they need. If you have siblings, the ideal is that you agree on how to share the expenses among all of you.
A safe home
Another way to help your parents cope better with old age is to make sure that the house they live in is in excellent condition and compatible with the period they are going through. For example, the house will likely need to be free of stairs and a smooth floor that could cause your parents to slip, as well as other details.
To conclude, it is clear that the most important thing is that your loved ones feel loved and accompanied by you. But, in addition to this, it is also essential that they can feel safe at home, that they are active, free from economic problems and with a positive mood.
Undoubtedly, all these details will help them live a much more satisfying seniority and, above all, you will be collaborating so that they can be happy in this very particular stage of life. After all, what is this compared to everything they have done for you?
Image courtesy of Aletia
