Six Creative Holiday Ideas For Your Senior Family Member

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Also Included In: Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 09 Nov 2007 - 13:00 PDT

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Holiday activities for senior family members needn't be elaborate, expensive affairs. In fact, it's far better to just keep it simple, advises LivHOME, Inc., the nation's largest professionally led provider of at-home care for seniors.

"Fight the urge to make elaborate plans involving your senior family members," says Steve Barlam, LivHOME's co-founder and chief professional officer. "Don't over-plan, and keep your expectations realistic. Keep in mind that seniors draw a lot of comfort from their daily routines, and interruptions can create undue stress. Instead, try to arrange activities around what they normally do."

Barlam, a licensed clinical social worker with more than 20 years of geriatric care management experience, offers six creative suggestions for simple holiday activities that seniors might enjoy:

- Ask family members to identify some of their favorite family recipes. Plan a time to compile the recipes, then create a "family cookbook," and make copies to share.

- Cook a special meal together with some of the recipes identified above.

- Put together a family photo album with existing photos, or take some new ones. A photo album can be a treasured possession for a senior to share with his or her friends long after the holidays have ended.

- Set up a Christmas tree or menorah. Talk about the history behind some of the decorations that have been handed down through the years.

- Take a drive to look at holiday lights - possibly to a former neighborhood or other area of interest. If you plan to stop along the way, consider factors such as parking and accessibility.

- Plan an evening reminiscing with family movies or videos, or playing favorite board games.

"If you can't be with your senior loved ones during the holiday season, reach out to another family member, a close friend, or even a trusted caregiver to help plan an activity or two for them. We do this routinely with our own clients and you'd be surprised how meaningful it is to seniors," Barlam says.

Barlam shares some additional thoughts for the holiday season on Episode 2 of The Senior Care Podcast by LivHOME (www.livhome.com/podcast), which is titled "Thinking Ahead for the Holidays."

About LivHOME

LivHOME is the nation's largest professionally led provider of at-home care for seniors. The company is dedicated to finding solutions that enable seniors to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Based in Los Angeles, LivHOME delivers high quality at-home care throughout California as well as select markets in Illinois, Minnesota and Texas.

http://www.LivHOME.com