Whether you've got Mom or Dad, Aunt Hildegarde or Grandpa Joe, here are some basic tips to make life more expansive for them & easier, more satisfying for everyone:
- The more consistency, the better. The older we get, the less inclined we seem to be toward "winging it." Most of my older friends appreciate a consistent calendar of weekly events, covering morning noon or night.
- Going out to an appointment does NOT count as an event. It wouldn't to you, it doesn't to them.
- Regular rehab sessions can be invaluable, getting OUT & doing things for purely the enjoyment, taking even a limited stroll through an interesting area for absolutely no practical reason, is priceless, good for body, mind & spirit!
- When leaving messages, use HINGED notes large enough to easily read. If you use the back, be sure to indicate with a clear arrow on the front. Simple, but effective - cut up a supply of 5.5" x 8.5" paper, hinged to 5.5 x 4.25, in a variety of light colors. Use light yellow for messages about meals, light pink for family matters, light green for outings... The recipient can flip them over, if they want, and write a note back to you on the blank side! Leave them in a designated place, one in clear sight.
- Use an 8.5" x 11" lined spiral-bound notebook for daily entries. The top line could show the date - Wednesday, February 24, 2016 - followed by what's on tap for the day. Each morning, fold it back to the date & leave it in a designated place.
- Keeping a jar of pens & sharpened pencils handy so they can write their own reminders or notes to you.
- To time-crunched youngers, having lots of leisurely time on our hands may seem like nirvana, but if we had to live even one week with the sort of aimless sense of time that's typical for too many seniors, we'd go bonkers. Help make sure older loved ones, friends & clients have meaningful things to do throughout their day, as important for people experiencing the challenges of aging as well as for the snappy "young oldsters" the marketing brochures like to tout. Studies indicate that older people who DO things with their time tend to be have significantly better lives -- experiencing less clinical depression, enhanced sense of purpose and control, and less a sense of "old age" --while those who too much "time on their hands" sadly tend to the reverse.
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