Is Your Senior Missing More Choices than You Think?

Choice is a powerful thing, especially for your elderly family member. If she’s not being allowed to make many choices, that can have an effect that ripples through her relationships with you and with other people. It might be easier than you think to implement greater amounts of choice for her. 

Why Is Choice So Important?

Home Care Aston, PA: Seniors and Making Decisions

Choice always matters, to everyone. But it’s especially important for your aging adult as she’s getting older and older. There’s so much that she no longer has a choice about. She may not be able to do things she’s always loved, for a variety of reasons. She may not have the control over her mental faculties that she used to have. But she can control some things, like whether she wears a particular piece of clothing or another one. When she’s making those choices that she can make, she can feel empowered in some ways. 

When You’re Trying to Be More Efficient, Your Senior May Lose Choices 

In the name of efficiency, caregivers often make a big mistake. You might feel as if it’s easier and faster to just do things. In some respects, that’s true. But you’re taking some of the choices your senior has available to her away from her. That can cause her to feel anxiety and even resentment eventually. If you could avoid those emotional complications by giving her choices, that’s a much easier solution. 

Giving Her Choices Is Easier than it Seems 

It sounds difficult at first to give your elderly family member more choices, especially if she’s given up a little bit on making some of those demands. But it’s so much easier than you might think. Every time there’s a chance to decide between this item or that item, that’s a choice you can offer to your senior. Some of the areas this is going to come into play are things like getting dressed, choosing foods, and determining which activities to try. 

Pay Attention to the Changes Choice Creates 

Something that you should definitely do is start to notice what those choices are doing for your senior. You may find that her mood lifts or that she starts to seem a bit lighter. Having choices and knowing that those choices, even the smaller ones, are being respected is incredibly powerful for your elderly family member.  

It’s very difficult in the beginning to add choices back in for your senior, especially if you’ve been doing things this way for a while. Home care providers can help. They can show you different areas and ways to build more choice into your senior’s daily life while they help her with necessary tasks. 

If you or a loved-one are considering hiring Home Care Aston, PA talk to Unlimited Staffing Solutions. Specializing in Home and Community Based Support Waiver Services Since 2001. Please Call Us for Your Home Care Needs (215) 447-7133.