If we’re lucky, our parents spend many years taking care of us, so by the time we get to their age, we want to take care of them too. For some of us, this is a necessity more than anything else, and caring for an elderly parent is a pleasure.
Maybe they are unable to afford their own place, or they have some medical issues that they require constant help with. But either way, you may have decided that the best course of action is to move your elderly parents in with you, rather than you trying to care for them in their home. If your parents are planning to move in with you, there’s going to be some challenges.
You can still get some additional care help from companies like Agincare, but you have to be aware of the challenges you’ll face when they move in. Being able to overcome them will help you all to make this transition a little easier, so let’s take a look at some of the top tips that you’ll need for moving parents in with you.
- Always get some extra help. In some cases, your parents are really going to need some extra assistance. This might be more than you can provide. If you don’t know how to manage medications or you are nervous about doing things like helping with hygiene, then having an additional carer come in to help with those things will really make a difference. It will also be good for your relationship because you are still their child, not just their carer.
- Have some boundaries in place. Not only should you have some boundaries with your parents, but they should have some boundaries with you. As you’re an adult now, you need to be able to live your life as one. So then moving in doesn’t mean that you regress back into child mode. It does go both ways. Your parents will be used to being by themselves and they don’t need you to micromanage them. You can support them. You can be there to catch them when they need it, but give them their own personal space where necessary so that everybody is a little better off.
- Try to have their own space for them. If you have a granny flat in the back garden, this is not going to be a problem. But a big part of the boundaries here that we discussed is giving your parents their own space. Ideally they should have their own room, and if you can have this room on another floor, that’s even better. The goal is to be able to help them without them encroaching on your space and vice versa. You want to make sure that they keep their independence.
Go through a safety assessment in your home. Common things around the home that have always been there start to become more dangerous as we get older. Low lying coffee tables can be a risk to shins. Not having banisters or rails across the house can make balancing and walking difficult. If your parents have mobility issues then making sure you have these things put in place before they move in can really make a difference to theirs and your comfort.