Pointers for Moving Your Elderly Parents
- #Apartment Moving
- #Home Moving
- #Move Management
Your parents, if you’re lucky, spent a vast majority of their adult years raising you right and caring for you. By the time we are teenagers we resent them for any and all reasons, re-discover our love for them once we get over ourselves, and spend many years after knowing that everyone can (hopefully) take care of themselves. However, when our parents begin entering their twilight years, things begin to change. Suddenly they need extra help and care, and we as the children are often left trying to wrap our heads around how to do that. After all, they aren’t our children they are our parents! It’s easy to get frustrated with our elderly parents because we aren’t used to seeing them this way. They are the ones who are supposed to have the answers, not the other way around. So, to save you from further aggravation, we’re going to provide you with some pointers on how to move your elderly loved ones.
1.) Communication
Moving your parent from the home they have resided in for numerous years can be tricky. After all, they are emotionally invested in that house, and moving away from a place you have lived for so long can bring about a lot of apprehension and sadness. It’s a difficult conversation to have, so be sure to give them time to grieve the change and talk with them about where they’ll be going. When moving elderly parents away from their longtime homes, a common cause of distress is them feeling as though they have lost control. Give your parents as much choice as possible while planning and implementing the move.
2.) Organize
Moving your parents out of their long-time home will certainly involve some downsizing. Enlisting the help of siblings and relatives to assist with sorting through your parents’ items can help make the task less daunting. Categorizing objects can help keep things orderly too. An example of this would be delegating items to keep, items to be given to family, and items to be sold into different piles and boxes. This way everything will be easier to keep track of. Also, word to the wise, do not rush your parents through this process, because it just makes you look heartless. Allow them time to reminisce with their possessions and relive the memories those objects remind them of.
3.) Clean Up
You may have thought you were finished after packing, but there is still work to be done once everything is organized for the big move. Regardless of whether your parents’ home is going to be sold, rented, or given to another relative, you’re going to have to make sure the house is cleaned and thoroughly repaired. If the house does require repairs, do your best to take care of them all at once so you do not have to deal with them while the house is up for sale, or after new residents have moved in.
A lot goes into moving your elderly parents from their home, and these three pointers are just the tip of the iceberg. Having to care for your elderly parents can be emotional, draining, and frustrating, but remember to keep your head about you. After all, they cared for you for your entire life, so the least you can do is get them in a place that better suits their needs for the future. Don’t forget your humanity during this process either, because the move hits your parent’s harder than it hits you.