Tips For Fostering Independence When You Move Your Parent To An Assisted Living Home

Are your grandparents starting to have health problems that affect their independence? Learn more about assisted living centers.

Tips For Fostering Independence When You Move Your Parent To An Assisted Living Home

26 April 2017
 Categories: , Blog


When you move your elderly parent into an assisted elderly living home, you want to feel that he or she will maintain a high degree of independence from you. While the home's staff members can contribute to making your parent's life easier in a number of different ways, your parent will largely be left to his or her own devices. During this transition, you want to ensure that you don't hinder this independence. Doing so may make the transition into the new living quarters more challenging, which is the last thing that you want for your loved one. Here are some tips to keep in mind to help your parent be independent.

Don't Visit Too Often

If you visit your parent regularly, he or she will come to depend on your company. This may cause your parent to fail to socialize with other residents, which can be a problem. You can foster your parent's independence by visiting only occasionally. There's no universally acceptable frequency, so you'll have to find out what works for you. For example, you might feel that visiting once a week is adequate. Your parent will look forward to these visits, but use the rest of the week to act independently.

Encourage Interaction With Staff

Make sure that you help your elderly parent to meet and greet the assisted living home's various staff members upon moving in. This way, a bond can quickly be built, which will help your parent to avoid being dependent on you. For example, if your parent is dependent, any issue that he or she experiences in the new living quarters may result in a phone call to you ā€” and you'll have to deal with things. When you make sure that your parent is acquainted with the staff members, he or she will consult the staff upon dealing with any issues.

Celebrate Independent Actions

When you speak to your parent on the phone, ask what he or she has been up to. When your parent tells you about independent actions, whether he or she has gone to lunch with a few friends, joined a walking group, or done something else without consulting you, celebrate this independence. Your goal through these interactions isn't to make your parent feel that you aren't interested in helping him or her, but the more he or she acts in an independent manner, the more enjoyment can be gleaned from living in the assisted living home.

About Me
Discussing The Benefits Of Assisted Living

Hi everyone. Iā€™m Seth. When my grandparents started having health problems, the family was divided on how to help them. They were unsafe living alone together, but they did not want to burden anyone by moving into a shared space. Although many people offered to let them move in, they never did budge on their stance. Instead, I helped them find a suitable assisted living facility so they could live together safely. I would like to talk about the benefits of assisted living apartments for elderly individuals. Please feel free to use the information on my site to help make this important decision for your aging family members. Thanks.

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