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The holidays are all about getting together and enjoying the festivities as a family, but sometimes this can mean senior loved ones are left out, particularly if there are small children present! While the holidays are certainly a time for children to enjoy, making your festivities that little bit more senior-friendly will ensure everyone is included and enhance the overall fun for all! Here at TruCare Home Care, we’ve come up with some simple tips to help you include your senior loved ones this holiday season.
Plan in advance
The holiday season is stressful, so make sure you plan in advance! If you have senior loved ones in your family, make sure there is a clear plan for how they will get to and from yours or another family member’s place for the festivities, and where they will stay while they’re there. All too often, families make holiday plans with their senior loved ones as an afterthought, leading to increased loneliness and sometimes even depression.
Make time for them
If the children are hogging all the limelight, it’s easy to forget your senior loved one. Make sure you include some time to sit down and talk with them as for many seniors, the holiday season is the only time they get to sit down with family and talk about what is on their mind.
Take a trip down memory lane
Your senior loved ones will have done and seen more than anyone else in your family, so why not let them share their experiences? For them, it’s a great time to revisit those great old memories and share them with the people they love the most. It’s also a great way of helping children understand the lives of senior family members, and they often love listening to the exciting stories they have to tell!
Visit them if they’re in a long-term healthcare facility
There’s nothing worse than having to spend the holidays away from the family due to health or age-related problems. If your senior family member is in a healthcare facility, organize to see them over the holidays as a family, even if it’s just for a few hours. It will mean the world to them and ensure they feel included in what matters to them the most.
Make a senior-friendly meal
Festive meals during the holiday season can be rich and heavy, and this can be disruptive to your senior loved one’s strict routine. They may also have some favorites from their childhood that they would like to include in the meal, so it’s best to ask them what they’d like so you have their input too.
The winter holiday season is about coming together with family and friends, which means everyone should be included. This holiday season, think about the seniors in your family and how best to cater to their needs — especially if the limelight is constantly on the young ones! With these simple tips, you should be able to enhance the experience for the senior loved ones in your family this holiday season, bringing seasonal cheers to everyone as a result!