As your parents age, they may be unable to carry out certain activities with ease like they used to. This, therefore, makes it crucial to do physical activities and master some new skills. Apart from having fun and something interesting to do, mental and physical activities help your aging parents live longer and improve their health.
Your parents need to keep exercising even as they age and reduce the level of exercise to fit their mobility issues. They can do light exercises to ensure they remain fit in their old age. Sometimes you may feel like your parents are in a rut, which may be due to their daily routine. When this happens, it's time to develop stimulating activities that you can have together or try with your friends. What matters is that the quality of their lives improves, leading to longer lifespans. Our caregivers at Mom's Home Care may recommend some fun activities and even do them with your parents. There are many activities that your parents can enjoy as they age, which improve their mental and physical capacities. Some of these activities include and are not limited to:
Gardening and Light Farming
Gardening is one of the activities that are beneficial to your parent's health, and it offers them a chance to access natural vitamin D from the sun and gives them something interesting to do. Vitamin D helps the body in fighting osteoporosis. You will need to invest in gardening tools if your parents are beginners, but you can add some of the tools they will require. Consider the strain that accompanies gardening and offer the necessary help. You can have someone do the heavy lifting and then have your parents do the watering, seed placement, and raking.
Your parents can tend to shrubs, flowers, fruits, herbs, and vegetables. The best part of gardening involves your parents' minds and physical exercises. When they harvest from the garden or enjoy the flower blooming, the satisfaction will go a long way in adding to the quality of their lives. Signing your parents up to join a botanical club or a gardening club also helps them to socialize with others, an activity that helps alleviate depression and slows down the effects of dementia.
Taking Walks
Walking helps your parents have some physical exercise, which helps release endorphins, and it is also good to be out of the house and soak much-needed Vitamin D from the sun. Your parents can use their walk as a way of socializing with their neighbors and friends. You can encourage them by buying them a dog to walk with if they love dogs, this way, they will enjoy their walks more as they watch the dog. Apart from walking, you can then sign into a walking or hiking club to interact with other senior citizens.
Cooking and Baking
If your parents love cooking and baking, you can help them with this by searching for recipes to try online. Involve your parents in meal preparation, cooking, serving, and even baking. You can ask your family and friends to visit often and in so doing, offer your parents the opportunity to cook or bake for them. Depending on their capabilities, you can enroll them in a culinary class to learn more. You may also invest in some cooking apparatus to help and fulfill the entire process. Your parents will enjoy baking, cooking, and serving using the correct utensils.
Take your time to help them while cooking, and you will enjoy spending quality time with them. If you are available, you can hire a home caregiver who will be delighted to spend quality time in the kitchen with your parents. You should consider having the caregiver drive your parents around if they wish to shop when they are not fit to go. Your parents will benefit from this independence as they can plan their meals, shop and prepare a sumptuous dinner which their family and friends will enjoy.
Enrolling in Music and Dancing Classes
Enrolling your parents in dancing or a music class helps immensely, especially when they have dementia. Sometimes, music and dancing may help trigger some happy moments for your loved one. Talk with your loved ones and note what they wish. They may want to attend an orchestra or play the piano. Whatever they wish for, try as much as possible to make their wish a reality. Their desire may be to learn to play a new instrument. You can enroll them in a class and then support them by attending their concerts if they have any. If your parents love to dance, take them to a class and show your support by signing them up. The little things make a significant difference in your parents' lives.
Treating Your Parents To A Day Out
It's essential to pamper your parents by treating them to a day out where you concentrate on their well-being. Take them out to a salon, spa, or barber, where they can enjoy the services. Let your parents try that haircut or hair coloring they have been afraid to try for some time. Let your loved ones feel pampered and appreciated in the little things that matter to them. You can accompany them to the spa and relax together afterward. Though your parents may tire quickly, consider taking them out shopping after the pampering, and they will go back home happy and content. Treating your parents to a day out for pampering also helps them socialize with other people, beneficial to their mental well-being.
Involv ing Your Parent In Pet Therapy
If your parents love pets, you can buy one they like to spend time with. You will realize that pets have a unique way to bond with the elderly. If your parents love dogs, you can buy one which meets their needs. You can buy one they can walk around with and have some much-needed exercises. There is a wide range of pets to choose from, and you can choose to purchase fish, birds, or even cats. Pets help your parents keep active as they have to take care of the pet, helping improve the quality of their lives.
Helping Your Parent Join Volunteer Groups
You can help your parents join volunteer clubs and groups, which helps keep them active. Look for volunteer groups that meet with your parents' hobbies and likes and then talk with them before signing them up. It is essential to involve your parents in the decision-making; this way, they don’t feel like you have taken over their lives. You can sign them up for food drives, help the local orphanage, or help the young ones with storytelling.
Volunteering helps bring purpose to your parent's life as they may be feeling adrift after raising you and watching you form your families. Spend time with your parents when they volunteer, which will help forge stronger bonds with them. Volunteering allows your parents to feel useful again, as they have a purpose in their lives. It gives their lives a new meaning and an avenue to channel their energy. It helps your parents put their talents into good use while helping the needy in society. Your parents may volunteer to knit for the orphanage or bake some goodies for the kids to enjoy. Sometimes they would wish to visit the sick at the hospital, and you will need to note where their interest lies in and support them. Your support can come in the time you put in to help them, maybe in baking, knitting, or even hiring a home caregiver to accompany them as they tend to the needy.
Signing Your Loved One In A Book Club
If your parents happen to love reading, you can help them join a book club to meet with other like-minded individuals. The best part with a book club is that even covid restrictions, your parents can still engage in their favorite activity, book reading. There are online book reading clubs where they can read and discuss their books. This helps your parents in that they will not feel lonely as they have someone to discuss their reading and exchange their different opinions. A book reading club allows them to create meaningful relationships, engage socially with other like-minded individuals, and at the same time feel appreciated.
If your parents are creative, you can encourage them to write their stories and share them in their book club or read them during family gatherings. You can also encourage them to write about your family's history if they are into it. Becoming a family historian is one of the best ways for your parents if they are history buffs. You will realize that writing helps your parents retain their mental faculties and give them something to look forward to. Once they are done with their writing, the sense of accomplishment that comes with it is very satisfying. Writing helps release the creative juices in your parents and gives them a more profound sense of accomplishment and passion.
Letting Their Artistic Juice Flow
If your parents are the artistic type, helping them in their creative endeavors can be the best activity to involve them in exercises. If they love to paint, you can buy them some watercolors to paint. If they wish to learn more about painting, enroll them in a class. There are other ways that your parents can release their artistic juice, like knitting, modeling, sculpturing, making jewelry, or pottery. You can encourage them to try a new activity, and even if they don’t excel at it, appreciate their effort. If your love makes something for you and your family, wear them and let them know you appreciate their effort.
You can also search for a place where your loved one can express their artistic side, like in a group setting. A group setting may be helpful, especially when it comes to helping them boost their confidence in their art. Some crafts take time, like knitting, and help strengthen their motor skills. You can also help your parents work on their hobbies at home, which will help with either mental or physical exercises. If your loved one hasn't started on their craft, you can give them the means to create. For instance, you may provide them with knitting needles, which will begin their knitting hobby.
You can also ask your parents to help you or your family learn their skills. This is one way of ensuring they do something they love, impact knowledge and at the same time spend quality time with their loved ones. For parents fighting depression, teaching their family their craft is one way to fight depression and make them feel valued. It will also help in combating loneliness and forge stronger family relationships.
Another way of helping your parents' artistic nature is looking for ways to help them achieve their dreams. For example, your parents may have lost their craft due to poor eyesight. You can enroll them in a class that will teach them alternative arts. If you have a home caregiver come in, someone to accompany your parents and assist them in their craft. This way, you will ensure they have a relationship they will both enjoy.
Encourag ing Their Social Activities
Social activities like spending time with their church members and neighborhood clubs help them keep busy and active. You must support their social activities as they will help slow down the process of dementia and other mental illnesses. You can support your loved ones by signing them to a local club and ensuring their membership is up to date. The sense of independence that your parents will enjoy when they spend their time with their friends doing something they love and want is excellent and helps prolong their lifespan.
Traveling
Depending on your parents' health, you can plan to travel to a place they have always wanted to visit. Several tour companies have great travel opportunities for the elderly. These touring companies have adventurous tours which are senior-friendly but ensure you discuss these tours with your parents before booking them. This way, they will feel like they control their lives. You can consider a cruise where they may visit different exotic places, but you don't have to worry if your parents have health conditions which prohibit this kind of travel. You can have them take a road trip to a park or take a senior-friendly hiking trail. Aging should not limit your parents. Let them travel but consult with their doctor first to ensure they are fit to. Talk with your parents to know which activity they would love to do, or where they would love to visit.
Contact A Home Caregiver Near Me
The trick to finding the best activities for your parents’ health is understanding what they love doing and their health limitations. Find activities that they will love, enjoy, and benefit their health. In Los Angeles, you can contact any center near you to find out their offering and something that might interest your parents. Though it may be challenging to find the perfect fit, you may ask your home caregiver for advice. At Mom’s Home Care, our caregivers will help you develop activities that are beneficial to your parents. You can contact us at 323-244-4789, and our caregivers will offer you more information and help develop the best activities for your aging parents.
