Self-esteem is cultivated early in life, but it can take a dramatic dip as a result of the changes aging brings. Many seniors experience low self-esteem after health conditions affect their abilities, or their views of themselves may change after retirement. Family and friends can all play a role in helping seniors boost their self-esteem.
1. Offer Specific Praise
Compliments are wonderful things everyone loves to hear, but offering empty praise doesn’t have the same benefits as being specific about the things you notice. Try to look for things your senior loved one does well. You might compliment a dish your parent prepares or tell him or her you love seeing how well he or she cares for a pet. Being specific gives your loved one a better sense of what he or she does that makes him or her stand out.
Low self-esteem can result in mental, emotional, and physical challenges for aging adults, but seniors don’t have to manage them alone. In Clearwater, home care agencies can be a great boon to seniors. With the help of the caregivers at Home Care Assistance, your aging loved one can lead a happier and healthier life. We offer a revolutionary program called the Balanced Care Method, which encourages seniors to eat nutritious foods, exercise and socialize regularly, and focus on other lifestyle factors that increase life expectancy.
2. Help Your Loved One Find a Job
A person can contribute to the world at any age. Your loved one might need a little help figuring out a new place in the world where people need his or her skills. A job for a senior could involve volunteering outside the home. Animal rescue organizations, schools, and religious institutions often need people to help out. If your loved one is housebound, there are still things he or she can do. Your loved one might want to handwrite letters to send to people who need a few kind words, such as teachers and soldiers. He or she could also offer to make phone calls for fundraising campaigns.
3. Show Your Loved One How to Meditate
Self-esteem is affected by things in the outside world, but it also needs a clear mind to develop from within. Meditation is a solution that helps seniors stop negative thoughts that bring down their self-esteem. Teach your loved one a few meditation techniques or set up an app that walks him or her through the steps. Five or ten minutes of meditation each day can help your loved one maintain positive thinking.
Seniors with low self-esteem may not be motivated to practice self-care and, as a result, develop serious illnesses, making it a challenge to care for themselves on their own. If your senior loved one needs around-the-clock assistance at home, the Clearwater, FL, live-in care professionals at Home Care Assistance are here to help. Our proprietary Balanced Care Method was designed to promote longevity by encouraging seniors to focus on healthy eating, regular exercise, mental engagement, and other important lifestyle factors.
4. Encourage Your Loved One to Stay Socially Connected
Sitting alone at home makes seniors feel useless and unwanted, which further lowers self-esteem. All it takes is a phone call or email to lift a senior’s spirits and remind him or her that people care. You can make sure this happens by arranging for a companion to spend time with your loved one. If your loved one is mobile, you can also set up social activities during the week, such as visiting the senior center in your parent’s community.
5. Ask for Advice
Your loved one has years of experience he or she can use to help family members. The secret to asking for advice is to inquire about something your loved one knows well. In addition to asking for advice yourself, encourage others to do so as well. Your loved one will love helping his or her school-aged grandchild with a math problem or sharing a few tips with a neighbor for getting a new baby to sleep.
When older adults feel good about themselves, they’re more likely to enjoy the golden years and remain independent. Not every senior has the same care needs, which means they don’t all need the same type of senior home care. You can rely on Home Care Assistance to provide an individualized care plan to meet your elderly loved one’s unique care needs. Our holistic Balanced Care Method was designed to help seniors focus on healthy lifestyle habits, such as eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and maintaining strong social ties, and our Cognitive Therapeutics Method offers mentally stimulating activities that can stave off cognitive decline and delay the onset of dementia. Call us today at (727) 330-7862 to discuss how we can give you the peace of mind that comes from knowing your loved one is being cared for with professionalism and compassion.