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How to Stay Close to Your Mom in her Later Years
Every child will have a special and unique bond to their mothers, and this is also the case for you and your mother. As a parent, she will have nurtured you through your childhood, offering support and understanding, so that you can become the well-rounded and successful adult that you are today. With all that your mom will have done in your life, you need to make sure that you work to keep that bond between you as she gets older and has access to the care she needs.
To help you out, this handy guide will walk you through some of the ways you can do this.
Find time for her
The biggest and most simple thing you can do to make sure the friendship you have with your mom continues, is to find the time for her. By having concrete plans put in place every week to see each other, both you and your mom can look forward to doing things together and cherish that time.
A great idea is to find fun things that you can do together so that you are not repeating yourselves or getting bored. You could, for example:
- Start or join a book club
- Go for a walk
- Cook a meal together
- Look around a museum
- Plan a day trip
Make sure that she has the proper care
The relationship you have with your mom will naturally change as she gets older because her mobility and energy levels will begin to drop over time. When this happens, as her child you will naturally want to step in and take care of her, which is a great thing to do but can become a burden that gets in the way of being able to enjoy your time together.
Know when it has got too much for you to handle
As your mothers’ needs grow, there is nothing wrong about being honest with yourself and accepting that you can’t provide all the care she needs. You simply need to work out how to tell your family you need to step down as a caregiver and give thought to what needs to be done instead so that her needs are still met.
Find a great alternative
Just because you cannot provide all the care she needs, doesn’t mean that your mother needs to go into a retirement home right away. One great solution is to get elder care in her home through inhomecare.com, which provide professional caregivers that can help with mobility, hygiene, diet, and transportation. This will mean your mom will still have autonomy over her life but will not have the struggle with the natural ills of age.
Maintain a close bond with your mom is something that is always worth putting the time into. You will not have your parents around forever, so you need to make the most of every moment you have with them and ensure their later life is filled with joy and support.
