The Emotional Toll of Moving Your Elderly Parent to Senior Living
Before you jump into senior living, do some soul searching and consider how you’ll maintain compassion, boundaries, and self-awareness throughout the transition.
Broaching the Subject of Senior Living
Discuss moving your parents into a senior living facility with your spouse and siblings, expressing your understanding of their desire to age in place while emphasizing the benefits. Don’t seek commitment right away, as it may appear that you have already made the decision for them.
Encouraging Tours of Senior Living
I tried to keep her thoughts on the future rather than the past, says the author. If your parent is open to change, suggest buying a comfortable new couch or recliner. If they’re more set in their ways, show them how you can replicate their current living room layout.
The Act of Downsizing and Moving
Many seniors associate downsizing with purging, and adult children can be too forthright or impatient with their parents when it comes to sorting through furniture, clothing, and other personal belongings. Professional senior movers specialize in assisting seniors declutter, downsize, and relocate.
Handling a Parent’s Indecision
I didn’t have to persuade my mother to leave her long-time home, but commitment proved too much for her. Countless caregivers struggle with their loved ones’ apprehension about moving to senior living. Worry about your parent’s well-being at home returns. Provide a realistic picture of how much easier it will be to navigate this transition.
Shouldn’t My Aging Parents Move in with Me?
Parental guilt abounds when it comes to suggesting that a loved one move into assisted living or a nursing home. Living together may delay, but it rarely prevents, a move to senior living. Increasing needs are an open declaration that a parent is aging, and we must accept it as well.
In Time, We All Adjust
Many seniors are happier once they’ve settled into senior living, but that doesn’t make the transition any easier. If you and your elder are having trouble, seek third-party assistance, such as from a close friend, a religious leader, or a paid counselor.
How can I help my elderly transition to a nursing home?
5 Ways to Assist Your Loved One in Transitioning to a Nursing Home
- Make their room a home.
- Check in with the staff.
- Visit frequently.
- Outings.
How can I help my elderly parent go to assisted living?
10 Ways to Persuade a Parent to Move to an Assisted Living Facility
- Plant the seed.
- Do your research.
- Wait for a “teachable moment” to present itself.
- Ask for referrals.
- Go on tours.
- Highlight the benefits.
How do you move someone into a care home?
How to Prepare for a Move to a Care Facility
- Contact your benefits office, if you have one (including disability benefits, which can be affected by care home stays)
- make sure other services at your old address have been notified of your move.
How can I help the elderly move?
5 Pointers for Assisting Seniors in Moving
- Plan ahead of time as much as possible.
- Begin the moving process early.
- Bring in a senior move manager.
- Assist your loved one in settling into senior living.
At what point do dementia patients need 24 hour care?
Late-stage Alzheimer’s patients are unable to function and eventually lose control of their movements, necessitating round-the-clock care and supervision. They are unable to communicate, even to express their pain, and are more susceptible to infections, particularly pneumonia.
How long does it take a dementia patient to adjust to a nursing home?
Depending on the circumstances, it can take up to 30 days for a person to adjust to a new home.
Can I refuse to care for elderly parent?
Some caregivers are concerned about what others will think of them if they refuse to care for their elderly parents; however, they can refuse to do so.
What is the average life expectancy of someone in a nursing home?
The average age of study participants when they entered a nursing home was around 83, and the average length of stay before death was 13.7 months, with a median of five months, and 53% of nursing home residents died within six months.
What do you do when elderly parent refuses needed care?
When Elderly Parents Refuse to Help: 8 Communication Strategies
- Accept the situation.
- Choose your battles.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself.
- Treat your aging parents like adults.
- Ask them to do it for the kids (or grandkids)
- Find an outlet for your feelings.
- Include them in future plans.
Do dementia patients do better at home?
Seventy percent of the 5.2 million people in the United States with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia live at home, an option that has been shown to keep people healthier, happier, and live longer.
Is it possible to care for someone with dementia at home?
Dementia Care at Home: A Step-by-Step Care Plan to Maintain Quality of Life As the disease progresses, your loved one’s physical needs will change, and you can help by closely coordinating care with his or her physician.
Can you take your own furniture to a care home?
Furniture. Depending on the care home, you may be able to bring some of your own furniture, which is a good idea because you can decorate your room to make it more homey, which can help people with dementia feel more comfortable in their surroundings.
Should your elderly parent move in with you?
For some aging parents, moving into their adult child’s home is the best option. Multigenerational living can be a wonderful bonding experience, a chance for you to get to know your parent in a new way, and it can help your aging parent avoid the isolation and depression that comes with living alone.
How do you tell an elderly parent they’re moving?
When you’re ready to talk, acknowledge and commiserate with your parents about their feelings about their home, then explain why you believe they would be safer and better cared for if they moved, and take them on a tour of a nearby apartment, condo, or retirement community.
Do older people become self centered?
As their world shrinks, older people become more self-absorbed; mothers lose appreciation for the tasks their children perform and become more demanding; those affected by the natural aging process become less sensitive to others, regress, and lose interest in their surroundings.