Are You Wondering Whether Assisted Living Would Be Ideal for an Aging Parent?
It’s one of the most difficult things for adult children to witness: their parents getting older. When your mother or father reached a certain age, you may have started worrying about their safety. You may have started wondering if they had fallen and were unable to call for help.
You kept thinking there had to be a better solution, some better option for a person their age. Over time, though, maybe you sacrificed certain things to help support them at home. Now you might be wondering if assisted living would be more appropriate and ideal.
You’re not alone in thinking that.
It’s okay to think that. You don’t have to feel guilty because you wonder if assisted living is simply a better option for your aging mother or father at this point in their life.
What may be happening in your thought process could be rooted in misconceptions about what an assisted living facility can offer.
Many people have various myths and misconceptions surrounding assisted living. They associate it with nursing home care and worry that their elderly mother or father will do the same.
The two are completely different. Assisted living is designed to help support aging seniors as they get older and no longer have the same physical ability or perhaps desire to clean, cook for themselves, or maintain their home as they had been for most of their adult life.
How can you broach the topic of assisted living?
Some people come right out and start talking about an assisted living community. That can be met with some resistance, sarcasm, or harsh questions. It could also be a cause for accusations from the elderly parent to their adult children.
One of the more effective ways to go about discussing assisted living is by talking about activities the senior has given up in recent years, especially things he or she might still love to do.
That could include playing card games with friends, going for nice, casual, leisurely strolls at the park, or heading out to the mall every so often.
By tapping into these activities and discussing them in a way that gets the senior thinking it’s still possible to do them, with a little help, you can then transition the conversation toward assisted living.
You don’t have to feel bad for considering assisted living. Ultimately, it’s the senior’s decision and not yours, but if you never talk about it, never mention the life they could be enjoying right now at one of these communities, they may never think about themselves.
For more information about assisted living in San Antonio, TX, contact Pipestone Place Assisted Living or to take a tour, call today (210) 718-0211.
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