Tips for Helping Your Senior Pursue Their Goals
Setting goals is a great way to encourage your parent to live a healthier lifestyle and to experience more fulfillment in their later years. Once these goals are set, however, you must encourage them to pursue them in the most effective and beneficial ways. Setting goals is usually the easiest part of aspiring toward something. It is actually working toward those goals, however, that is challenging.
As both their family caregiver and their adult child, you can be there for your parent to help them to work toward the goals that they have and ensure that they are as successful as possible so that they keep going.
Homecare in Alexandria VA: Senior Goals
Some tips for helping your parent pursue their goals include:
-Set realistic deadlines. Having a set deadline of when your parent wants to have achieved something is what takes it from an aspiration to a goal. Setting this deadline and writing it down makes the goal “official” and holds your parent accountable. It also is the first step in setting up a timeline of how they will pursue their goal. When setting these deadlines, however, make sure that they are realistic. Trying to accomplish something too extreme in a short period of time will just frustrate your parent and leave them feeling as though they have failed rather than like they are doing well.
-Create an action plan. Pursuing a goal requires work and that work often involves several steps. Setting an action plan is an important part of knowing how to move toward accomplishing the goals your parent sets. Once your parent has established their goals, take some time with them to evaluate the goals and create a plan for how they will work toward them. This can help your parent to see the path that they will take and feel more motivated to move forward.
-Make the first step accessible. The old adage that the hardest part of any goal is getting started is absolutely true. Taking that first step can be totally overwhelming and your parent might feel as though it is impossible. They may even resist the first step because they don’t want to get started and then fail. Instead, help them to set a first step that is accessible and that you can celebrate together as an accomplishment.
-Don’t judge them. Be supportive of your parent, even when things don’t go exactly as planned. If your parent does not reach their goal or does something that throws them off course, avoid reprimanding them or getting frustrated. Instead, talk about it and help them to get back on track.
How can senior care help?
If you have been looking for ways to enhance your aging parents quality of life as they age in place, starting elder care for them may be the ideal solution. An elderly home care services provider can create a highly personalized approach to your parents care that includes services specifically tailored toward their individual challenges, needs, and limitations.
These services are designed to not only help your parent to manage their needs in the way that is right for them, but also to support a lifestyle focused on mental, emotional, and physical health, independence and autonomy, and fulfillment. These services can include everything from safe and reliable transportation to companionship, to assistance with personal care needs and activities of daily life.
Are you or a loved-one considering hiring homecare in Alexandria, VA? Please call the caring staff at Medical Professionals On Call today.
Contact: 703-273-8818
Medical Professionals On Call has such a caring, professional staff who are available to step in with whatever level of care necessary for loved ones and to relieve you of that stress.
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