When you hear the word “holiday,” what comes to mind? Is it your favorite cookie recipe, special music, the familiar smell of traditional foods? Often for older adults, holidays produce a mixed range of emotions. Along with many happy memories, older adults also may be coping with stresses triggered during holiday times.
Donna Andrusyk, Iowa State University Extension family life specialist, provides a few tips to help families with older adults prepare for the holidays.
Give practical and useful gifts. Give gifts of safety, comfort, and convenience. Share home-made goodies that your older adult enjoys by bringing them a ‘one-serving’ portion. Many times our elderly family members have physical conditions that include special diets. However, one small, special treat is often permissible, but be sure to check with their health care professional first.
Tune into the holiday blues. During holiday get-togethers plan a specific remembrance celebration of good friends and family members who are no longer alive. Encourage your elderly adults to share their difficult feelings by making time to listen to them. Sometimes these feelings surface after the holiday is over when there are likely to be fewer visitors.
Holidays may be times to assess your older adult’s physical and mental health. The holidays may be a rare time for most family members to be in one place at one time. This together-time could give your family an opportunity to tune into and assess changed habits such as a decreasing appetite, neglect or deterioration of personal hygiene, and the purchasing of unusual items, especially purchases from television advertisements.
Families need to recognize warning signs of depression. While the ‘holiday blues’ are usually temporary, clinical depression tends to linger long after the holiday is over. Depression affects 15 of every 100 adults over age 65 in the United States. Don’t wait for it to disappear. Instead, contact the older adult’s healthcare provider for help should you observe any warning signs in your elderly family member.
When possible, include older family members in volunteering for visiting shut-ins or providing or purchasing something for a community holiday event. Studies show that older persons who volunteer stay physically active; engage their brains thereby protecting memory; and have fewer medical problems than the senior population in general.
Remember to include your older adult family member in planning for family celebrations. With careful preparation, holidays can be times of memory-making for both young and old.
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