8 Ways To Take Care of Your Elderly Parents While Having Fun With Them
These days, it’s not uncommon for the children to be living far away from their elderly parents, sometimes even across the country or abroad. Ergo, it can be challenging to find time for your elderly parents without neglecting yourself or your family obligations. This post will discuss seven ways you can care for your parents and still have fun with them.
Exercise With Them
Exercising with your parents is a great way to spend some time together. It will help you stay healthy and may also make them feel more energetic. Choose activities that are easy for both of you to do or have fun coming up with new exercises, like walking on the spot.
The key to this is making it enjoyable. If they’re not enjoying the activity, then you’ll need to find something else. Try thinking of activities that are new and unique or ones they haven’t done in a while. You never know what will perk them up!
Do Puzzles With Them
A great way to spend time with your parents is by doing puzzles together. Puzzles are a fun activity that helps strengthen mental abilities like planning and spatial awareness while also building patience, which is vital for older people.
Playing games or spending time on hobbies can help you bond with your parents as well – so make sure to include these activities in the time you spend with them!
Puzzles provide an opportunity for caregivers and their elder family members to get creative and solve problems cooperatively, creating opportunities for conversation. In addition, the act of putting the pieces together can be therapeutic and mentally stimulating.
Puzzles are also a great way to encourage healthy behavior such as patience, planning, spatial awareness, attention span, logical thinking, and perseverance. They require these skills to thrive in their old age.
Play Games
Playing games with your parents is a great way to spend time together and enjoy each other’s company. There are many classic board games that you can play with them.
For example, Monopoly has been around for over 100 years, but it’s still fun today! You could also bring out old toys from when you were younger or make up new ones like “Darrell Eats All The Bananas.” Bingo is another excellent game to engage in with your family. What bingo games can you play? There are plenty of options for you online and offline.
However, if they’re not interested in playing any physical or mental activities, there are plenty of good card games too!
Here’s an idea: if you have siblings that live in another state, create a tournament so you can all play against one another remotely while chatting on Skype about what’s going on in everyone else’s lives.
Gardening
One of the benefits of gardening is that it’s a fun and healthy activity for you and your aging parents. Even if they usually have limited mobility, there are many ways to get them involved with taking care of their garden or even maintaining someone else’s plants!
You can also visit nurseries together during outings so that your parents can see what kinds of things might work best in their yard while giving you ideas as well.
And don’t forget all the other health benefits from gardening like lower blood pressure, reduced risk for dementia, better sleep habits, and lowered stress levels.
Start a Book Club
Say your parents love reading books. Why not take advantage of their interest and start a book club with them? They will be able to discuss the book they have been reading while you can get some much-needed time away from taking care of your elderly parents.
There are lots of ways that you can do this: You could meet at one person’s house each week or invite everyone over for dinner (with wine!). And if someone doesn’t like the current read, no worries – just pick a new title next meeting! The only fundamental rule is the book needs to keep changing every couple of months or so because otherwise, people might get bored too quickly and give up early in joining the group.
If your parents are not exactly literary buffs, there is no need to worry. There are lots of ways you can get them reading. For example, you could take turns picking a book and then alternate who reads it aloud for everyone else or if they prefer audiobooks, buy an Audible subscription together.
You can also work out some sort of points system where they earn rewards for finishing the chapter every time you read aloud – like getting their favorite dessert when done!
Take a Class Together
If your elderly parent happens to be retired or a veteran, they might enjoy taking some time out of their day to take different classes. There are always new things happening in the world that your parents can learn about through these courses and activities.
If your parents are still up to date with technology, take a class together online or at the library. For example, try out cooking, photography or learn how to create and design an app. This can be fun for you both while allowing them to keep their mind sharp!
Take a class together. If your parents are still up for it, take them to an art school and sign up for something they enjoy, like painting or sculpting. It will be challenging but rewarding too!
Have them take you to a craft store and let their creativity run wild. Who knows, you might find some of the most unique gifts at this type of store!
Go for a Hike
Going for a hike is good for your and your parents’ physical health, and it gives you some great quality time together. You can go to a park or hiking trails near you. Besides, your elderly parents may probably have more energy than most people of their age, so they might be the ones who set the pace while you walk with them side by side!
It doesn’t matter how old someone is; walking just one mile per day will help prevent all sorts of issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. If this isn’t possible due to any limitations on mobility or fitness, then consider taking a scenic drive instead through various locales that you would otherwise never see in person because you’re too busy at work or tending to other responsibilities.
Indeed, it’s a great way to know your family and get out of the house, make new friends or just enjoy some time with your old parents. Plus it doesn’t cost anything!
Watch Movies Together
You will get your parents to relax and spend some quality time with them while enjoying a matinee or a movie in the evening.
When you go to the movies, ask your parents which flick they would like to watch. If they don’t care, surprise them by choosing something that they have never watched before. For example, if one of your parents prefers action movies, pick an emotional or romantic movie to watch with them.
If you can’t come up with anything they have not seen before, settle for a comedy. You will surely bring out the laughter in your elderly parents’ hearts and minds as well as get them to spend quality time with each other.
Conclusion
It can be challenging to find fun ways for both of you, but there are plenty! Get creative and have some family time together. Start a book club or take up gardening as a hobby with your parents. No matter what activity you choose, make sure it’s something everyone can enjoy.
