May 12, 2016 by
Family. We love them, but we don’t always get along with them. Our relationships with our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents shape who we are as people. While some of us in Camillus, NY live in harmony with our families, others avoid family gatherings as much as possible. When an older loved one is in need of care, however, family members often find themselves forced to work together to come up with care solutions. When a hurtful family history collides with a present family caregiving need, is it possible to work together for a positive outcome?
AARP offers the following tips to help family members overcome difficult dynamics and provide the best care for a loved one:
- Learn from the past. Fully letting go of past hurts may be too lofty of a goal to achieve, but it is possible to gain insight and a renewed perspective when viewing through the lens of lessons learned.
- Focus on positives. If your strained relationships are like most, they’re comprised of both difficult and pleasant memories. Draw from the positives and try to place your focus more fully on those.
- Rely on your values. Rather than refusing to participate in caring for a loved one because of a hurt that person inflicted upon you, fall back on your core values, such as the importance of helping others and treating them the way you’d like to be treated.
Working closely with family, particularly over an emotional and sensitive issue like how to help a senior loved one in need, can be challenging. A professional home care agency, like At Home Independent Living in Camillus, NY, can help tremendously by providing an objective third party caregiver who can offer expert, personalized care at home. We’re just a phone call away!