No one likes to feel helpless or out of control, and even if your senior knows that she needs help it can be tough for her to accept that help. Here’s some information that can help.
Fear and Worry Are Often the Root of Resistance
It might feel to you as if your elderly family member is being difficult just for the sake of being difficult. But resistance to help is often caused by much more complicated issues. Worry about what having help means and fear of losing independence are powerful, and they can cause your elderly family member to turn down even reasonable offers of assistance.
Talk to Your Senior and Keep Her Engaged in the Process
One of the things that can help is to talk to your elderly family member about what’s happening, what elder care can do for her, and to keep her actively engaged in what’s going on. Ignoring this step is going to play into those underlying fears that she’s going to lose her independence and control. By giving her choices, you prove to her that you have her best interests at heart.
Put a Trial Plan Together
Having help doesn’t have to be an all or nothing experience. Put together a trial situation for home care. Let your elderly family member know what her choices and options are, and then give them all a try. That helps her to look at this from a perspective of trying to make it work rather than just shooting it all down from the beginning.
Keep the Focus on Your Senior’s Needs
It’s important to keep your senior’s needs in mind, not from the perspective of continuing to harp on them, but so that you can meet them as painlessly as possible. Elder care services can help you to do this with routines that support your elderly family member every day. As her needs change, what you do to help her also needs to adjust.
Remember You’re Only One Person
It’s easy to get caught up in trying to do all that you can for your senior. As her family caregiver, that’s exactly what you’re there to do, of course. But you’re only one person. Having help from elder care providers ensures that you’re not running yourself ragged while trying to make sure that all is well for your elderly family member.
Easing your senior into accepting help is important because you can’t make her do something she doesn’t want to do.