How to Talk to Your Mom About Assisted Living
If you are thinking about the possibility of talking to your mother about moving into an assisted living residence, you may have some real questions about how to broach the subject with her. There are a number of factors to bear in mind when you want to talk to your mom about possibly moving into an assisted living residence. These basic tactics include:
- Research assisted living options
- Engage in ongoing dialogue about future plans
- Understand why seniors prefer staying in their own homes
- Ensure your mother maintains a sense of decision-making control
- Understand the state of your mother’s health
- Present multiple living options
- Understand your mother’s preferences
Research Assisted Living Options
Before you dive into discussing assisted living with your mom, you need to be educated on the subject. You need to research what assisted living options might be available to your mother. In addition, you also need to have an understanding of the ins and outs of assisted living in the first instance.
Engage in Ongoing Dialogue About Future Plans
You do not want to plunge abruptly into a conversation about your mom moving into an assisted living residence. Rather, the best strategy is to engage your mother in a more gradual and ongoing dialogue about future plans, including living and residential ideas.
As the conversation carries on, you can begin to focus on assisted living options. In this regard, you might want to come up with a number of different options from which your mom can select from when it comes to this type of living option.
Understand Why Seniors Prefer to Stay In Their Own Homes
In talking to your mom about the prospect of living in an assisted living residence, you need to bear in mind why seniors initially prefer to stay in their own homes – at least initially. Over time, your mother may become more interested and then even eager to move into an alternate residential option like an assisted living facility.
Initially, however, keep in mind that senior women oftentimes are quite attached to their current residences, and understandably so. That is the place where memories were made and her life was lived, sometimes for many years.
Ensure That Your Mother Maintains a Sense of Decision-Making Control
Remember that in the grand scheme of things the decision to move into an assisted living residence rests with your mother. Of course, there are exceptions if your mom has some sort of memory issue. But, generally speaking, when it comes to the decision to move into an assisted living program, your mother must be part of the decision-making process. When discussing the prospect of your mom moving to an assisted living residence, you must never make it seem like the decision to make such a move is being imposed upon her.
Understand the State of Your Mother’s Health
There are different types of assisted living options available to women in this day and age. For this reason, when you make the decision to talk to your mother about moving into an assisted living residence, you need to make certain that you have identified options that best meet her needs.
As part of identifying the best fit for your mom in the way of an assisted living option, you do need to have a clear understanding of the state of your mother’s health. Health is one of the driving factors when it comes to selecting the most ideally suited assisted living residence for your mom.
Present Multiple Options
As was alluded to a moment ago, you are likely to be able to come up with multiple options of possible assisted living facilities. In point of fact, you do want to be able to present your mom with different assisted living options to consider when you reach a point in your discussion that she wants to focus more specifically and with at least some degree of certainty on moving. You do not want to over do when it comes to options; several choices is likely to be enough.
Understand Your Mother’s Preferences
You may think you know your mother’s preferences when it comes to where she likes to live. That likely will be based on her current living environment. However, as your mom has moved into her Golden Years, she may have new or differing ideas of what she prefers in a place to live.
You need to explore and flesh out your mother’s preferences in regard to the possibility of moving into an assisted living residence. These preferences truly will serve as guideposts in the exploration of the options that might make the most sense for your mom when it comes to an assisted living option. In this regard, don’t forget to have a close discussion of costs and your mom’s budget today and going forward into the future.