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4 Ways to Break the Guilt Cycle in Adult Children
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver burnout, caregiver stress, caregiving tips, elderly care, mental health, Senior Care | 0 comments

There are two sides to becoming an adult. On one hand, you finally get the liberty to leave your parents’ home, run your life as you’d like, and begin working towards your dreams.
On the other hand, you stop being as available as you used to. This fact often leads to feelings of unmet expectations for parents, and many adult children begin feeling guilty.
Guilt can lead to prolonged unhappiness, anxiety, and other mental health issues. The good news is that you can break the guilt cycle. This blog shares helpful tips.
1. Discuss Needs Openly
Mental Health America revealed that 54% of American adults in their 40s have a parent aged 65 or older and are raising a child under 18 or have an adult child they have helped financially in the past year.
These caregivers grapple with different complex emotions, including guilt caused by a sense of loss of independence as the responsibility of caregiving becomes more pronounced.
However, discussing needs and expectations openly with your parents can reduce negative feelings. For example, if your parents say you barely call, you can create a calling schedule. This way, everyone feels heard and understood.
You can also agree to a more manageable budget and ways to reduce spending so you’re not overwhelmed with bills.
2. Compromise
Say your parents live far away from you, and your job and other demands make a trip to see them virtually impossible. You can arrange for them to see you instead and spend a few days at your house.
Choose seasons where you have more time to spare –for example, during your annual leave or the holidays –and plan for things to do together. The activities depend on what your parent or parents love to do. Maybe your mom enjoys sharing a good meal, or your dad loves catching a live football game or playing cards. These moments are bound to create memories and build anticipation for the next time you meet.
3. Build a Culture of Expressing Appreciation to One Another
You’d be surprised how far simple words of appreciation go. For instance, end a phone call by saying, ‘I missed chatting with you like this. Can I call you again this weekend?’
You can put words on a text or card, too. The point is to let them know they are wanted and you love them. Appreciation produces oxytocin (the love hormone), which promotes connection between people.
While at it, communicate unavailability when schedules collide instead of failing to show up and talk about reschedules.
4. Find them Affordable Quality In-home Care Services
Many aging parents who need long-term care prefer receiving caregiver services in Miami offered at home rather than going to a care facility.
Recent research by National Library of Medicine shows home healthcare helps save on costs while being as effective as hospital care. Caregiver services in Miami also reduce the chances of hospital readmissions. Further, they can have more visits from their friends and other family members.
Seeking senior care in Miami has become an easy solution for many caregivers who can’t take care of their loved ones themselves. If your elderly parent lives in Miami, you can benefit from professional and compassionate in-home care services in Miami and then work your schedule to allow visitations, phone calls, or face timing.
Lastly
Culture holds that parents and children should have a great relationship. Because life is not linear, unmet expectations pile up, and adult children may struggle with guilt and feelings of failure.
If not fixed, this guilt can prevent you from enjoying a good relationship with your parents and become intergenerational. These tips can help you break the cycle and prevent your kids from getting trapped in the same cycle.
Advanced Care offers help by providing world-class home care services in Florida. We care about you and your relationships and provide caregiver services in Kendall, North Miami, Miami Beach, and Coral Gables. Our warm caregivers do everything in-home care services require –from bathing to Alzheimer’s and dementia care to palliative care and help to pay bills. Feel free to contact us today and we’ll be more than willing to assist!
Planning Finances for Your Aging Parents in Miami
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver stress, caregiving tips | 0 comments

Your parents are getting older, and the day may come when they can no longer manage their own physical and financial responsibilities. It is tricky because you don’t want to take away their independence, but as they progressively grow frail, you will need to step in and take care of them. It will need to be done sensitively, and each change introduced slowly. It is usually easier for them to accept care of their physical needs but getting help with finances for seniors can be difficult. You may need help from key professionals to help manage this process. If you live in geo: Miami-Dade, you can count on getting help from Advancare home care services that provide in-home care for seniors.
When is the Best Time to Start Managing Your Parent’s Finances?
When you look at guides on how to manage your parents’ finances, they all say that you should try to start the process as early as possible. Preferably before your parents need any help. It is good to get to know their financial goals and personal affairs to make sure your help is meaningful and not against their wishes. Involve other relatives if possible and try to keep the lines of communication open to make sure there are no misunderstandings between family members. If you need some expert help with how to help manage your parent’s finances, you may look for more information from the National Institute of Aging.
Available Resources for Elderly in Miami
If you live in geo: Miami-Dade, there are resources available to help with finances for seniors. For instance, if your parents have trouble with keeping up paying bills on time, you may be able to help them set up an online bill-paying service. If they need physical help in the home, getting a home care specialist may be an option you can consider. The best way to handle this delicate situation is to make gradual changes and put a lot of time into discussing their needs before bringing in any outside help.
Take Inventory of Financial and Legal Documents
Sit down with your parents and list and file all the financial and legal documents your parents have. Important documents should be kept together in a place familiar to you and other involved people, like your siblings. By ensuring that more than one person knows where the important documents are kept safeguards in case of death. Other family members may need access information like your parents’ contacts, medical information, birth certificates, and insurance information. Even though family members know about it, make sure that this sensitive information is in a secure location.
Navigating the problem of how to manage your parents’ finances is not easy. But if you put a plan in place early so that everyone knows what to expect when your parents will no longer be able to look after themselves, the transition should be smoother and less traumatic for both of you. If you need any assistance with getting the necessary help for your parents, and you are in geo: Miami-Dade, call Advancare home services at Miami: 305-441-9794, and their professional advisers will assist you in putting the plan together.
When Should a Person Stop Driving?
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver stress, caregiving tips, elderly care | 0 comments

While getting older doesn’t automatically mean that you should stop getting behind the wheel, signs of aging such as cognitive and physical decline can make operating a motor vehicle more dangerous to yourself and others. Slow reflexes and deteriorating vision can make driving dangerous, but we understand having that conversation with an elderly loved one can feel fraught. That’s why Advancare provides services such as incidental transportation in the Miami area; beyond in-home care, it still allows seniors to maintain a social life and keep their appointments. Below, you’ll find a brief overview of how to know that a senior is too old to drive and how to stop an elderly parent from driving.
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How Do You Know If You’re Too Old to Drive?
Though there is no one indication that it is time to stop driving, there are certain signs that can be observed that it’s no longer safe for your senior to drive. If you notice any of the following indicators, you should attempt to convince a loved one in their golden years to give up their driving privileges.
- Getting confused by traffic signals
- Stopping at green lights when there is no stop sign
- Getting lost and calling a family member for directions
- Hearing from friends and acquaintances who are concerned about your loved one’s driving
- Having accidents or side-swiping other cars while parking
- Running stop signs or red lights
- Other drivers honk at you
In addition to the above signs, certain medical conditions can inhibit one’s ability to drive:
- Stroke
- Dementia
- Problems with hearing or vision
- Parkinson’s disease
- Arthritis
- Diabetes
How to Stop an Elderly Parent From Driving
One of the most common questions that our senior care professionals receive from family members is surrounding how they can prevent elderly parents from driving. For an elderly person, giving up their driving privileges is often a difficult thing to do because it means losing independence. When you have concerns about a loved one’s driving, one option is to request a driving evaluation at a rehabilitation center, driving school, or state licensing agency.
If an older adult is adamant about not wanting to give up their licenses, sometimes family members need to take action on their own. This can mean disabling the car or taking it away.
Incidental Transportation in the Miami-Dade Area
One way to make the car-less life easier for seniors is to hire an in-home caregiving service that provides errand service in and around Miami, or simple incidental transportation. Though we are not a taxi service, the incidental transportation service offered by Advancare can help your loved one get to important activities. Say your loved one’s friend calls them to meet for lunch, but they are homebound and cannot drive. In this case, they would simply call up our company and we would send one of our caregivers to take them.
Contact our Caregivers Today
To learn more about our incidental transportation services, reach out to Advancare at 305-441-9794.
Home Health Care for Dementia Patients in the Greater Miami-Dade Area
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver stress, caregiving tips, elderly care, mental health | 0 comments

Benefits of Home Health Care For Dementia Patients in Miami
Whether you’re talking about Alzheimer’s disease or a more general form of dementia, these memory conditions affect a large proportion of the senior population in the greater Miami-Dade area. These conditions cause brain tissue to break down over time, which causes memory loss. This can make it extremely difficult for affected seniors to perform simple everyday tasks that they once took for granted.
One way to combat some of the issues caused by dementia is to hire a senior in-home caregiver that specializes in dementia home care services. This is one of the many in-home care services provided by Advancare, and our compassionate caregivers are happy to share how seniors with dementia can benefit from home health care.
How Can Dementia Patients Benefit from Home Health Care?
Dementia and Alzheimer’s cause an array of physical and emotional challenges for seniors, thanks to the cognitive changes that go along with these conditions. Our caregivers are specially trained to care for individuals with dementia, and we can help out with things such as:
- Toileting assistance
- Grooming, bathing, and dressing
- Medication reminders
- Mailing bills and letters
- Home organization
- Reading
- Playing mind-stimulating games
- Eating assistance
- Meal planning and preparation
Dementia can be a condition that progresses quickly. As your loved one’s dementia worsens, we can alter our services to reflect these changes. For instance, a senior who was previously able to remember to organize their bills may now need assistance with that task. One of the most helpful aspects of the senior home care services provided by Advancare is how customizable they are.
Memory Loss and the Impact on Family
For many people, taking care of seniors with memory loss conditions such as Alzheimer’s or dementia is a full-time job. Most people simply do not have the time or professional training to properly take care of a family member with memory loss. Doing so often involves either quitting a job or greatly reducing your hours, spending less time with other family members, and a large amount of stress and burnout.
Instead of dealing with these negative consequences, it is often advisable to leave in-home care for dementia care patients to a professional at Advancare.
Caregiver’s Role
The compassionate caregivers at Advancare are specifically trained to handle seniors who are suffering from Alzheimer’s and memory loss. We give all of our caregivers extensive training on how to communicate with the elderly as well as dealing with situations where a senior may become aggressive or stubborn in completing their routine everyday activities. We know that dementia is sometimes physically and emotionally draining for both seniors and caregivers, which is why we make sure to provide only the most compassionate care.
Get in Touch with Dementia Caregivers You Can Trust in Miami
When entrusting your loved ones to a senior caregiver, you want to ensure that you’re dealing with the best, most compassionate caregivers, which you can find at Advancare. Get in touch with us by calling 305-441-9794.
Tips on Long Distance Care
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver stress, caregiving, caregiving tips, depression, elderly care, home care, Senior Health | 0 comments

Tips for Long Distance Senior Care
Caring for far away loved ones can be quite the challenge. If you live far away from someone that you care about and they need constant attention, then check out some of these helpful long distance senior care tips. It is always important to understand how your loved one may feel about being cared for from a distance. The most crucial thing you can do is put yourself in their shoes and take into account how they feel about the situation. Your life will be affected, but theirs will be affected even more than yours. Always keep this in mind, even when caring from someone close by. These things are not always easy to deal with and it is important to remember what matters most to you and your loved one: being there for each other and loving one another.
Time Management and You
Posted by Scott Cantin in Alzheimer's Disease, caregiver stress, caregiving, caregiving tips, depression, home care, mental health, Senior Health | 0 comments

When our brains age, it may become tougher to remember things that you easily used to remember. To prevent this, there are many different things you can do to both strengthen your memory and improve your time management skills. Check out our previous post that focused on improving your mental health from a couple of weeks ago for some tips on how to keep your memory sharp. This week’s post focuses on time management and what you can do to improve it while bettering yourself.
Strength and Weight Training for Seniors
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver stress, caregiving, caregiving tips, depression, elderly care, home care, Senior Health | 0 comments

This week, we will be focusing on weight training safety and techniques that are good for seniors. Some seniors, especially the ones that have been exercising consistently for a long period of time, may want to consider doing as much weight training as possible. Weight training is a great way to keep your muscles working and your blood flowing. Not only can it help your muscles, but it can also help your balance and coordination, so you can prevent a fall before it happens. Mixing weight training with cardio every week is a great way to balance out your routine.
The Truth of Money Burdens in Caregiving
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver burnout, caregiver stress, home care | 0 comments

Contrary to popular belief, caregivers are not professionals trained in schools, the majority of their training is being done at home by a relative or a close friend. It may be a spouse, a daughter or a son, an in-law or their best friend. In fact, 70% of caregivers are composed of these people. Though we are trained since we were young to prepare for a life outside the classroom and to be able to support our own families, we are not as prepared to face a life that few people are prepared for: elderly care.
How Art Therapy Could Help Caregivers in Caregiving
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver stress, caregiving tips, Dementia, mental health | 0 comments

Imagine yourself sitting in a chair on a fine morning. You find yourself staring off into space without much of a coherent train of thought. Then you suddenly find a canvas in front of you with a table of brushes and paint. Without thinking twice, you create colors from strokes. Before you know it, time has passed and you’ve created something but you still don’t remember what you’re doing here.
Reconciling with the Inevitable: When Caregiving Journey Ends
Posted by Scott Cantin in caregiver stress, caregiving tips | 0 comments

Admit it. There is always a time in your caregiving journey when you want to take a long and relaxing vacation. But when that time does come and go, you find yourself in a standstill then you start asking yourself this important question, “What’s next?”