There are so many reasons you might choose to live with older relatives, from financial motivations through to the fact that it can be a great way to keep your family close. As your parents, or even grandparents age, they need a little more help with daily tasks, and living together can be a great way to ensure that you can help them on a daily basis. However living with older relatives also has it’s own complications, and for this reason I’ve written this article to give you some tips for living with older relatives so you can relish the experience together.
1. Consider a Stairlift
If you live in a two storey house, the firsts thing you’ll want to invest in is a stairlift. As people age, their balance gets a little less stable, and their bones weaken too. Jointed can tire and lose their normal mobility, and all of this combined is a recipe for disaster. At some point, stairs may become unmanageable, and for that reason it’s better to invest in a stairlift before it’s necessary. It allows you to transform most staircases into easily accessible parts of your home, ensuring your older relatives can get around confidently and comfortably. You can install a handicap stair lift without much change to the staircase itself, ensuring a quick and easy install.
2. Know Your Limits
There’s a chance having your older relatives live with you will mean you’ll take on the bulk, if not all, of the care taking responsibilities. For that reason, I think it’s really important to know your limits before even discussing the idea. Talk to your siblings or other family members to see how they can help, and if it’s going to fall mostly on your shoulders you may want to look at contracting outside help. How that will look for you will depend greatly on your family and personal circumstances, but some ideas include regularly cleaning to help maintain your home, or even specialised ageing care a few times a week to help take the pressure off you.
3. Build a Routine
Having a routine makes everything easier for every family member as they learn to know what to expect for each day. This is particularly helpful with ageing family members. As adding an extra person or two to your household can complicate things, making a routine and system will help negate this change. You will need to think about routines around meal times, outings, how things such as bills will be managed and so forth. Having a clear plan for everything will make it easier for everyone and prevent you from constantly needing to bring things up.
Sorting out the logistics of living with older family members is crucial before they even move in with you. Hopefully these tips help you organize everything so you can ensure that you have the best experience possible.
