Family Caregiver Tips: How to Overcome Resistance to Care

Overcome resistance to care with these family caregiver tips from the leader in Sonoma home care services.

For many seniors, admitting the need for help is likened to admitting defeat. After living in an era that emphasized the need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and stay strong and self-reliant in the face of adversity, it’s a difficult mindset to change. How can you help aging parents understand the benefits of home care assistance, without viewing it as a threat to their freedom and independence?

AARP offers the following helpful family caregiver tips to try:

• Maintain Respect. Remind the older adult, with your words as well as your actions, how much you depend on him or her for guidance and advice, and part of that includes aging gracefully. For your aging parent, knowing that you are learning crucial life lessons by observing his or her aging experience can help pave the way for more accepting and gracious behaviors and attitudes.
• Focus on the Gift Being Given. Our parents have loved the joy of giving us gifts over the years. Your help in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of your aging parent is actually a gift that will benefit both the older adult and yourself; and failing to accept help deprives you of the opportunity to benefit from giving the older person the gift of your care.
• Emphasize Self-Reliance. Far from removing independence, home care actually boosts a senior’s freedom and autonomy, enabling him or her to spend time on activities and tasks that are of interest. Instead of spending the day cleaning the house and cooking, for example, the senior is now free to enjoy a hobby or interest, spend quality time with family and friends, attend a class or an exercise program, etc.

For more family caregiver tips on effectively communicating the benefits of home care to a senior loved one, contact Hired Hands Homecare’s experts in Sonoma home care services. We provide a free in-home assessment that provides older adults with the opportunity to meet us, ask any questions and to have concerns alleviated, which will lead to an enhanced level of safety and wellbeing. Contact us online or call us at (866) 940-4343 to learn more and to find out if our services are available in your area.