Some of the decisions or activities your senior chooses may make you scratch your head in confusion. But she also might not be as open to talking about them as you would like for her to be, which brings in even more complications.
Take Some Time to Really Think about What’s Happening
Some of the things that your senior does or chooses may not make sense at all to you. You can ask, but take a minute first to observe what’s going on and to look at whether what you think is going on is what’s actually happening. There may be situations that look like one thing but are actually something else. It helps to have all the information.
Why Do You Think Things Are Going the Way They Are?
If you had to guess, what’s your first thought or feeling about why your senior’s situation is going this way? It helps if you put yourself in your senior’s shoes. So, ask yourself if you were in your elderly family member’s position, what would you be doing? Depending on your answer, you might have a better understanding. But if you’re still not sure, talk to your elderly family member.
Talk to Your Senior and Put Some Plans in Motion
This conversation with your senior will hopefully shed some light on anything that still wasn’t clear for you. But it is important how you address things with your aging family member. If you’re coming to the conversation aggressively, she may not want to open up. This is when you’re going to hopefully put some plans together, so you need to both be open to the process.
Make Sure to Re-evaluate Down the Line
Take a look in a couple of weeks at the solutions your senior agreed to. How well did they work? If she agreed to a trial run with elderly care providers, ask her how everything is going. Trust is really important here, because if your senior fears that you’re going to ignore what she tells you, she may not open up. This is about solving whatever problems are plaguing your elderly family member as well as you can.
Your elderly family member is her own person with her own mind, and that means that sometimes she’s going to be doing things that don’t make sense. If you’re careful how you approach the situation, you can keep it from blowing up.