Caregivers in North Palm Beach, FL
As a family caregiver, the end of your journey and your parents' end of life transition are likely things that you do not want to spend much time thinking about. Planning for these eventualities now, however, is a compassionate and loving way of making sure that your parents' wishes are honored and that you can carry forward with your life in the healthiest, most successful way possible, feeling confident that you did everything you could to help them enjoy the highest quality of life they could throughout their later years. Part of this is helping your aging parents leave a legacy for future generations.
Leaving a legacy is all about making sure that the older generations of your family are remembered and honored throughout years to come, but also that these older generations are able to feel like they are connecting with and benefitting members of their family that they may never even meet, but with whom they feel connected because they are future generations. Doing this can help your parents ease the common worry that they are going to be forgotten, and give them an emotional boost. Many find that seniors who go through the steps of leaving a lasting, meaningful legacy for their descendants feel more in control and like they have gotten themselves organized so they are able to relax and better enjoy their lives.
Let these ideas inspire you for ways that you can make helping your parents leave a legacy for future generations a meaningful part of your journey with them:
• Make a video. Gone are the days when you needed one of those huge video cameras that you had to carry on your shoulder in order to make a home video. Now you can use a camera the size of your hand, or even your smartphone, to record moments with your aging loved ones. Encourage them to talk to the camera as if they are talking to the future generations and save these files in the cloud so that they are secure and easily accessible.
• Give inheritance now. If your mother knows that she has always wanted to give the wedding china she keeps in storage to your daughter, encourage her to give it to her now along with a letter about what that china means to her and how she hopes that your daughter will use it in the future. If items that your parents want to pass down to specific members of the family are not being used, encourage them to pass them along now so that they can benefit from those gifts now and your seniors can have the opportunity to express the meaning and emotion of those specific items.
• Start a journal. Purchase your parents a journal, or even better have them make one, and encourage them to fill it with the story of their lives and families, how they met, what life was like for them when they were younger, and anything else that they would like the future generations to know. Include pictures, documents, and other memorabilia so that the stories are even more meaningful when your children, grandchildren, and beyond read them down years from now.
If you or an aging loved one are considering help for family caregivers in North Palm Beach, FL, contact the caring staff at BrightStar Care of Jupiter. Call today (561) 741-1200.