When you’re just trying to get your senior the most help that you possibly can, it’s irritating when she won’t accept that help. There might be a lot more than you think behind that refusal, too.

Refusing Help Is Definitely Frustrating

It’s important to admit from the start that you’re frustrated. When you know that something could help your senior’s quality of life, it’s definitely frustrating for her to refuse whatever it is. Admitting that can help you to relax a little bit and take the next few steps.

Listen to Her Reasons

Ask your senior again why she’s against this idea and really listen. Some of her reasons might not seem all that reasonable. So it’s important to weed through them. At the heart of her objections you might find fear, particularly fear that she’ll lose her independence or even that she’ll lose you as her caregiver. It’s not uncommon at all for aging adults to worry that having elderly care providers step in means that family members are stepping out.

Don’t Give Up

You have to be persistent, too. Just one conversation is not likely to be enough to sway your senior to your point of view. In all honesty, one conversation is likely not enough for her to truly open up to you about why she’s uncomfortable with having elder care providers assisting her.

Be Patient with Her

Along with persistence, you need to practice patience, too. She may be resisting because she’s honestly scared to be dealing with one or more new people in her life. It can take time to become okay with that idea. You need to persist on the topic, but do so in a caring, loving, and patient way.

Look for Compromises

Finding compromises is where both you and your elderly family member are more likely to achieve that sweet spot in this situation. Perhaps you’ll hire elderly care providers, but they’ll only be there on a temporary basis or only during hours in which your senior is okay with them being there. Or maybe you agree that they’ll only handle certain activities for your senior.

There are likely going to be quite a few times when you and your senior don’t agree on something that she needs or should be doing. You might find it helpful to apply this same sort of process to those issues so that you can get to a better place with those issues more quickly.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering Elderly Care in Lubbock, TX, please contact the caring staff at Best In-Home Care (806) 412-0723.