Helping your parent to leave a legacy for future generations is a meaningful way for you to boost their mental and emotional health as they age in place. Many elderly adults struggle with feelings of no longer being relevant, or worrying that they and their traditions will be forgotten once their life comes to an end. Leaving a legacy allows your parent to pass cultural, religious, and family traditions on through the generations, as well as reaching out to those who will come after them, even if they are no longer around. Spending quality time with your parent creating a legacy for them to leave is a powerful way to strengthen your relationship with them, and learn more about your parent. This can not only give you a greater bond, but it can also give you insight into them as an individual, which can help to bring more meaning into your caregiver efforts, and help you to make better decisions regarding their care.

Let these ideas inspire you for ways you can help your senior leave a legacy:

• Establish lasting support for a cause that is important to your parent. Help them to identify an organization or cause that has significance for your parent, and find ways they can leave a lasting impact. This can be a financial gift given in their will, a donation in the family name, or even a written or recorded message to family and friends about the value of this particular cause so others will know about it, and can support it.
• Create a recipe book. Food creates strong connections, and can be one of the most important shared experiences for a culture and a family. Have your parent write down recipes for the foods they have prepared for you throughout your life, and the ones their families prepared when they were younger. Record stories and memories about these foods and put them in a book that can be shared with younger generations.
• Write letters for the future. Your parent likely thinks about the future generations of the family, and the events and meaningful times they won’t be around to see. Help them to be a part of these times by having them write letters for the future. Come up with the different special occasions your parent would like to be a part of, such as weddings, the births of children, or graduations, and encourage them to write letters to their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even beyond. Date these letters, and keep them somewhere safe to distribute when the time comes.
• Give inheritance now. Rather than waiting until after your parent’s death to give items to family members, encourage your parent to give them now. This lets them tell the person the importance of that item, memories they have of it, and why they chose to give it to them. It also lets your parent see them enjoy the item as a part of their own life now.

The benefits of elder care are not just limited to helping your parent handle their health issues, manage their challenges and limitations, and take care of personal care needs. Instead, having an elderly home care services provider with your aging parent to be a fantastic way to encourage them to live a higher quality of life as they age in place. This care provider can encourage your parent to maintain more of their independence, support a higher level of activity and engagement in the world around them, and work with them at to stimulate their mental and emotional health. This can be highly effective in helping your parent’s cognitive functioning stay sharper, their emotional health stronger, and their quality of life more fulfilling throughout their later years. As their family caregiver, this can also help you at to feel more at ease, relieve your stress, and protect your own health and well-being as well.

If You Or An Aging Loved One Are Considering Hiring Elder Care in St. Petersburg, FL, Please Contact The Caring Staff At Assisting Hands Home Care Today! 727-748-4211.