The Challenges of Caring for Seniors

An old and cliche saying many people have heard is respect your elders. These words do have a great deal of merit. The elderly have a great deal of wisdom to share with us. They may be stubborn and set in their ways, but there is still much to learn from them. Some time has passed before many individuals get the true meaning of respecting their elders.

As admirable as these sentiments are, our elders are only human. We can learn much from their wisdom and their mistakes. A lifetime of bad habits caught up with many of the senior citizens. Smoking, drinking, poor diet, lack of exercise, and really anything one can name, had caught up with many of them. Said vices lead the elders to medication as they approach the later stages of their life. Then we considered the number of diseases which impair those much older.

So the children and grandchildren have to find time to care for elders. This effort would require much team work. Of course, if there are very few hands on deck, the effort to care for older people are much less. Caring for an elder is not unlike a part time job. It requires a great deal of sacrifice. Eventually, even if we care about our older family members, they eventually find their way to a elderly care facility.

The problem is senior citizen care is really one of the most under looked areas in the country. Sadly, society has this tendency to sweep the seniors under the rug. The rest homes and the supposed professional care is not the best. In many extreme cases, there are allegations of abuse. Many of the homes exist just to milk every dime out of honest individuals who want the best care.

If one wished to put their elderly parents or grandparents in a home, do be prepared to do plenty of research. Not all homes are nightmare dens of greed and abuse. Most of them sadly do have elements of both. It is just a lot easier to sweep problems under the ground. The government does it all of the time but it has trickled on down to modern society.

The sentiment given where we need to expect our elders rang soundly in our ears. As often as these words are said, they often miss the point. The biggest problem of society is most do not respect their elders. Of course, many of those not respecting their elders will be senior citizens themselves one day. Until humanity ends, the cycle will continue.