Top image: At a creative aging (Bharatanatyam session) with older adults at the YM&YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood.
Photo credit: Tom Frambach
Photo credit: Tom Frambach
Signs Your Aging Parent Needs Help And What You Can Do
- by Hal Salazar
- by Hal Salazar
About the author:
Hal Salazar created Elders.Today to lend a helping hand to seniors via carefully curated resources. Hal is newly retired, and as he embarked on planning and preparing for his golden years, he realized there was a lot of information to keep up with so he started gathering it all on his website to help out his fellow seniors. When Hal isn’t working on Elders.Today, he enjoys walking at his local park, testing out new recipes on his wife, Marlene, and playing piano.
Hal Salazar created Elders.Today to lend a helping hand to seniors via carefully curated resources. Hal is newly retired, and as he embarked on planning and preparing for his golden years, he realized there was a lot of information to keep up with so he started gathering it all on his website to help out his fellow seniors. When Hal isn’t working on Elders.Today, he enjoys walking at his local park, testing out new recipes on his wife, Marlene, and playing piano.

At some point, many of us may have to step in and help an aging parent or grandparent. There are many different reasons that intervention may be necessary. Fortunately, there are also many things that you can do without making your aging loved one feel as though they have no control over their own life. Today, I share a few tips for adult children stepping into their new role as caretaker.
Physical and mental decline: The top reasons that adult children have to offer a helping hand all come back to decline. This could be waning mobility, poor vision, or issues with mismanaging money or the household. A senior may need assistance due to any of the following:
An unclean home: Issues with hand dexterity, standing, or bending and stooping can create the perfect storm of physical problems that make it difficult for a senior to clean their home. Unfortunately, seemingly simple chores can easily pile up, leaving a senior in an unhealthy environment. Something you can do here to lend a hand is to outsource cleaning to an agency that can handle everything from light housekeeping to reorganizing the home.
They can no longer run their business: Senior entrepreneurs are often reluctant to let their businesses move into someone else’s hands. However, if the business starts to lose money, customers, or social standing, then it may be time to let it go. You can help your senior by showing them how much they might expect to get from their business. Before you do this, you’ll need to get a business valuation, which will include everything from physical property to real estate to inventory. A professional business valuation is an objective piece of information that may just sway your senior to finally let go.
Inability to maintain their own personal hygiene: Seniors that can’t maintain their own bathing regimens are at serious risk or are already suffering from depression, dementia, or other major issues. XTCare explains that declining senses (think smell and taste) may leave a senior blissfully unaware of the odor from their body or mouth. Unfortunately, this often indicates that a senior needs more assistance than most people can offer as a part-time or remote caregiver. This brings us to our next issue.
The senior can no longer live alone: Poor hygiene, an unclean home, and money mismanagement are all signs that your aging loved one should no longer be left alone. While you do have the option to move them into your home, many find that the community environment and socialization opportunities provided by senior living are the best options. Senior living consists of independent, assisted living, and skilled nursing. This costs money, and lots of it; assisted living can cost $4,300 per month or more.
To afford this, the senior may need to sell their home. Make sure that you check their home value using a proceeds calculator to get a better idea of what they can expect from the sale, which can help you determine a range of what they can afford moving forward. In addition, you might consider paying their bills, helping them navigate Medicare benefits, and making sure to communicate their condition with their loved ones.
Your aging parents took care of you, and now it is your turn to take care of them. From hiring a housecleaner to helping them understand how much their homes and businesses are worth so that they can pay for a more comfortable senior living situation, the above are just a few ways you might offer a helping hand to the hands that molded you into the person you are today.
Physical and mental decline: The top reasons that adult children have to offer a helping hand all come back to decline. This could be waning mobility, poor vision, or issues with mismanaging money or the household. A senior may need assistance due to any of the following:
An unclean home: Issues with hand dexterity, standing, or bending and stooping can create the perfect storm of physical problems that make it difficult for a senior to clean their home. Unfortunately, seemingly simple chores can easily pile up, leaving a senior in an unhealthy environment. Something you can do here to lend a hand is to outsource cleaning to an agency that can handle everything from light housekeeping to reorganizing the home.
They can no longer run their business: Senior entrepreneurs are often reluctant to let their businesses move into someone else’s hands. However, if the business starts to lose money, customers, or social standing, then it may be time to let it go. You can help your senior by showing them how much they might expect to get from their business. Before you do this, you’ll need to get a business valuation, which will include everything from physical property to real estate to inventory. A professional business valuation is an objective piece of information that may just sway your senior to finally let go.
Inability to maintain their own personal hygiene: Seniors that can’t maintain their own bathing regimens are at serious risk or are already suffering from depression, dementia, or other major issues. XTCare explains that declining senses (think smell and taste) may leave a senior blissfully unaware of the odor from their body or mouth. Unfortunately, this often indicates that a senior needs more assistance than most people can offer as a part-time or remote caregiver. This brings us to our next issue.
The senior can no longer live alone: Poor hygiene, an unclean home, and money mismanagement are all signs that your aging loved one should no longer be left alone. While you do have the option to move them into your home, many find that the community environment and socialization opportunities provided by senior living are the best options. Senior living consists of independent, assisted living, and skilled nursing. This costs money, and lots of it; assisted living can cost $4,300 per month or more.
To afford this, the senior may need to sell their home. Make sure that you check their home value using a proceeds calculator to get a better idea of what they can expect from the sale, which can help you determine a range of what they can afford moving forward. In addition, you might consider paying their bills, helping them navigate Medicare benefits, and making sure to communicate their condition with their loved ones.
Your aging parents took care of you, and now it is your turn to take care of them. From hiring a housecleaner to helping them understand how much their homes and businesses are worth so that they can pay for a more comfortable senior living situation, the above are just a few ways you might offer a helping hand to the hands that molded you into the person you are today.