If you have an elderly loved one in assisted living, you have a chance to make the holidays festive and meaningful for them, even if you need to put new traditions together. Older relatives in assisted living are likely to feel loved and cared for when you try to bring the holiday spirit to them. Spending quality time with your loved ones during the holidays is important, no matter where your loved ones may be.
To help you plan your celebrations with a parent or grandparent in assisted living, what follows are answers to three common questions.
Should you bring them home to celebrate with your family?
If your loved one in assisted living doesn’t have dementia, and if you can help them with their needs while they travel home to you, bringing them home for the holidays can be a great way to celebrate.
Before planning the visit, however, you must ensure that your loved one is comfortable with the plan. Seniors often worry about losing access to essential personal care while away from assisted living or feeling tired from too much activity. Therefore, it’s necessary to run your plans by your loved ones to reassure them that they will be well taken care of and only to make definite plans if they are on board.
Suppose your loved one is in a memory care unit due to dementia or cognitive impairment. In that case, it will make sense to carefully consider if a trip home to celebrate the holidays could cause them to feel disoriented — people who struggle with dementia sometimes feel uncomfortable in unfamiliar environments.
You could talk to the caregivers at their assisted living facility to learn what exactly your loved one is likely to be comfortable with — some people with dementia tend to enjoy festivities. In contrast, others tend to find crowds and changes in routine disorienting. If your loved one is likely to be sensitive, it will make sense to plan a simple little celebration in their room instead.
If your loved one has dementia, will they care if you celebrate with them?
While your loved one with dementia may not seem to engage much with the world, they likely enjoy spending time with family. Therefore, depending on how well your loved one usually takes to outings, you need to decide.
If they typically have a good time going out, being at home with family should bring them considerable joy. They can have a great time admiring the decorations, singing along to a bit of holiday music, and reminiscing while looking at old photos. More often than not, people with dementia love spending time with family.
What holiday activities are your loved ones likely to enjoy?
If your loved one has dementia, a quiet, low-key approach to celebrating the holidays may be a good idea. It would make sense to begin by putting up only a few simple ornaments or decorations and bringing only a couple of people in at a time to spend time with your loved ones. Then, depending on how well they take to the presence of other people in the room, you may decide to bring more family members in or fewer.
If your loved one suffers from no cognitive impairment, it’s easy to see it’s a good idea to bring them home to be a part of the festivities. The greater the effort you put into showing your loved ones that they are always a part of your holiday plans, the happier you will make them.
Try different festive activities.
Celebrating with your loved ones can be about putting up holiday decorations in their room or sitting with them to plan the gifts they will get for the grandkids.
It could also be an idea to arrange for family members to visit them so that the whole family spends an excellent hour unwrapping gifts together. Organizing video chats with family living far away is another possible holiday idea. Other ideas include watching holiday-themed movies together, singing holiday songs together, or taking your loved ones out to a holiday meal at a restaurant they love.
Whether you take the festivities to your loved ones in assisted living or bring them home for the holidays, making them a part of your celebrations can make the holidays special for them in ways nothing else can. The effort you put in is likely to pay off.
