5 Things You Need To Take Care of Your Elderly Parent

I have a great conversation with mom yesterday about what she would change about this house if we won the lottery.  You know those talks, we have all had them: All the money in the world at your fingertips, what would you buy?

I started thinking about what we should have done before bringing mom here, that would have made life a little easier for all of us. There are plenty of professional tips for preparing your home for an elderly parent, these are my thoughts, straight from the trenches.

Here are my top 5, literally off the top of my head:

1. Make sure the  house is safe for an elderly parent - This means nothing is loose, wobbly, broken or in need of repair BEFORE they arrive. It may not bother you that the edging is missing to the carpet in the living room, but it will spell disaster for  your elderly parent that shuffles around in their house slippers. Believe me!
2. Be sure that your parent will have his or her own space - This is essential for everyone’s mental health. A place that has boundries for everyone else in the family. Grandma’s room is off limits for anyone except Grandma herself.
3. Understanding your parent’s lifestyle before they arrive – Do they walk or get out regularly? Do they have sit down meals, or a more casual approach? Do they use email or the  phone regularly? How about letter writing? We actually had to put a mailbox in at our house, so that mom could send and receive her mail, without having to ask for someone to bring her to the post office. It is so much easier for her and more dignified as well.
4. Where are you going to put their stuff? – It is important for your elderly parent to feel that they LIVE with you, and are not simply a guest in your home. To me, this means that mom puts some decorations and furniture that she brought with her, out into the living area of the house. Especially sweet, is a vase that she changes the plastic arrangement in, for every season. Awwww
5. How are they going to feel useful in your family? - For my mother, it is the coffee making, laundry things. We have never had an empty laundry chute, and now it seems to never have any clothes in it at all. Mom makes coffee before the pot cools from the one before it, and we go through a LOT of dryer sheets.