Are You Doing Too Much for Your Aging Adult?

By Andy Niska | December 28, 2017 |

Contrary to what many caregivers believe, you can actually help your senior family member a little too much at times. One way to know for sure is to ask your senior, of course, and then you can work out solutions that make everyone happy.

Senior Care in Spokane WA: Are you Doing Too Much?

Her Self-esteem Can Suffer.

Losing the ability to do certain things for herself that she’s always done is truly a loss for your aging adult. In fact, she may go through periods of grief each time she loses the ability to do certain things. By taking over too much, you may inadvertently be contributing to this sense of loss.

Use Adaptations to Make Tasks Easier.

Quite often you can modify or adapt a situation to allow your elderly family member to continue to do what she needs to do herself. For example, grab bars and shower chairs can allow your senior to bathe on her own for a lot longer than you or she might have expected. Safety is always the key concern, so seek out modifications and adaptive tools that help your senior stay safer.

Learn Where Her Limits Are.

Learning about your aging adult’s limits may involve observation and simply asking her where she’s comfortable continuing to do things on her own. This may be something that you both continue to learn on a case by case basis as her needs change.

Let Her Ask for Help When She Wants It.

The big lesson for you may be that you’ll need to let your elderly family member clue you in when she’s ready for your help. If there’s a situation that is obviously unsafe, that’s a different story, of course. Letting her ask you for help when she wants it helps to build trust between you and your aging adult.

Learn Cues from Senior Care Providers.

Senior care providers have vast experience helping aging adults in all sorts of situations. If you’re struggling in particular with knowing when to help and when to step back, you may want to pay attention to how your aging adult and home care providers interact.

You and your aging family member will find a healthy balance between letting her do what she can do and accepting your help if you work together toward that end.

If you or an aging loved one are considering senior care in Spokane, WA, please contact the friendly staff at Love at Home Senior Care, today. Call (509) 204-4088

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Andy Niska

Owner at Love In Home Senior Care

Andy has over 20+ years experience in the medical community and has a true compassion for seniors. With a degree in Health Care Administration, he developed a background in a variety of health care services that only comes from first hand experience. While working as a manager of a large clinic and as an account executive for medical suppliers. Andy has built valuable relationships with the medical community.

His role in Love In Home Senior Care is to educate people on what care choice is the best fit for the senior and their family while attempting to make this decision as stress-free as possible for everyone involved.

This decision making process should be smooth and stress free for everyone, including all family members and their loved ones. Having access to people with experience (like the team at Love In Home Senior Care) to assist you along the way can help this process. With an extensive background in health care, Andy has the experience needed to guide and direct your loved one to the choice that is the best fit.