When your elderly loved ones were younger, they were likely the ones in your family that were creating the family traditions and making sure that everyone was involved and felt loved. But now that they’re older and potentially in assisted living facilities, they may not get to be as involved in your family traditions as…
3 Ways To Better Include Elderly Loved Ones In Family Traditions
When your elderly loved ones were younger, they were likely the ones in your family that were creating the family traditions and making sure that everyone was involved and felt loved. But now that they’re older and potentially in assisted living facilities, they may not get to be as involved in your family traditions as they would like. Luckily, there are ways that you can change this and make everyone in your family feel like part of your community.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three ways to better include elderly loved ones in family traditions.
Include Them In Your Plans
When you’re making plans for something, whether it’s a big dinner that you’re planning for your friends or a holiday is coming up that your family loves to celebrate together, try to cater your plans so that you can include your elderly loved one in what you’re doing.
Unfortunately, if you only remember to include your elderly loved one as a last second thought, it might be hard for them to be accommodated and be at or play a role in the tradition that you’re doing. But if you can think about your loved one ahead of time and find a way to plan them into your tradition, either by stopping to see them before or after the event or even having them help you with something in the preparation for the event, you can help them feel much more involved and loved.
Allow Some Traditions To Change
Depending on the age and health of your elderly loved one, they may not be able to participate in family traditions in the same way that they used to. But just because something is a family tradition doesn’t mean that there’s no room for changes and adjustments to be made so that everyone can still be involved.
In many cases, there are easy ways that you can adjust a tradition so that part of it can be still done by your elderly loved one. It might mean adjusting the timing or having different people take on different responsibilities. But if you still want your elderly loved one to be involved, you likely can find ways to make this happen.
Keep Things Simple
When everyone in your family or friend group was younger and healthy, it might have been fun and even easy to have elaborate traditions that you did together. But as people age, the extent to which traditions need to be followed can and will get simpler.
If you know there are traditions that your elderly loved one enjoys, try to find ways that you can simplify them so that they can still feel a part of the event without it becoming something huge that entirely wears them out.
If you have older family members that you still want to involve in family traditions, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn some ways that this can be done.
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