Taking care of your elderly parent can be very rewarding and bring you closer to your loved one, but it can also be a little challenging when you’re the full-time caregiver for your aging loved one.
Sometimes you need a little something uplifting to get you through those times that you feel very alone and aren’t sure where to go from here.
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When You Need a Little Something to Remind You of the Value of Your Parents
“Help support and care for the bodies of your elderly parents, because it’s the only body they have to live in.”
“One person caring for another is life’s greatest value.”
“There are four kinds of people in the world: People who have been caregivers, people who are caregivers now, people who will become caregivers in the future, and people who are going to need a caregiver.”
“Love intends only one thing: the well-being of the one who is loved. It leaves everything else to take care of itself. Love, therefore, is a reward in and of itself.”
“Family is not only an important thing; it’s everything.”
“Remain patient and give all your respect to our beloved seniors; they have earned their dignity through their lifetimes.”
“I believe that most caregivers find themselves in a situation that evolves naturally into caregiving by necessity and through love.”
“The most precious things you can give to your parents are time, love, and care.”
“To love a person truly is to see all of their magical qualities and to remind them of what makes them special when they’ve forgotten.”
“Care for your parents with love and respect, for you will only understand their full value when you see their empty chair.”
“When you’re wrapped up in the 24/7 caregiving job, it’s easy to forget that the person you’re caring for is required to be more resourceful than you in many ways.”
“Your parents cared for you when you were young; care for them now that they are old.”
“Remember to be patient. Consider how you will want someone to treat you when you are old and the time has come for you to have a caregiver!”
“Some caregivers step into the role of caring for their elderly parents because they want to reciprocate the care they received as children.”
For When You’re Taking Care of Sick Parents
“Relationships created out of obligation often fail to be as rewarding as those created out of love.”
“Even though people who are experiencing dementia become unable to recount what has just happened to them, they still go through the present-tense experience — just without recall.”
“One person caring for another is a representation of what is most important in life.”
“Caregiving for sick, elderly parents, taking the chance to feel, and leaving an impact on the people you love most, brings happiness.”
“I suggest that all of my friends and acquaintances discuss caregiving with their elderly parents and with family members while their parents remain healthy and clear-minded.”
“Caregiving is about being a companion, not a superior. It doesn’t matter whether the person we’re caring for is experiencing cancer, dementia, the flu, or grief.”
“I love you, and I get to love myself more too by loving you.”
“We all know in our hearts that caregiving is an expression of the fact that we’re all connected. What I do for you, I do for me.”
“When you show yourself love, you broaden the capacity to love the person you’re caring for more.”
“When you care for someone else, you care for yourself too.”
“Caregivers draw other caregivers to themselves, and thus live their lives in a loving community. They become energized with the caring of others and love life.”
“It isn’t as important how much you do as it is how much love you have in your heart when you are doing it.”
“You can’t choose when or how you’re going to die. You only get to decide how you’ll live your life.”
“Your elderly parents may not be able to remember what you said to them, but they will never forget how it made them feel.”
“People have two hands; one hand is for helping themselves in times of need, and the other is for helping those they love.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that the happiest and most satisfied people are those who have committed themselves to something more significant than only their own self-interest.”
“Kindness can transform a person’s darkest moment with a flash of light. You may never know how significant your caring is to the person you’re caring for. Choose to make a difference for someone else every day.”
“It doesn’t matter what the relationship is between the parent and the child, it will always be challenging because it is neither rational nor logical. You cannot deal with it directly or with reason alone. What I’ve said to many people is that we must always lead with our love for the people we care for.”
“If you want other people to be happy, be compassionate. If you want to be happy yourself, continue to be compassionate.”
“We may frequently underestimate the power of a gentle touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest caring act, but all of these gestures have the ability to change a life for the better.”
“To be a mindful caregiver, you must communicate intentionally and with compassion.”
“The day the roles reverse is foreign. It’s a clumsy dance of love and responsibility, not wanting to cross any lines of respect. It’s honoring this person who gave their life to you—not to mention literally gave you life—and taking their fragile body in your hands like a newborn, tending to their every need.”
Caring for Your Parent When They Have Alzheimer’s or Dementia
“The moods and actions of people with dementia are expressions of what they have experienced, whether they can still use language and recall, or not.”
“The disease might hide the person underneath, but there’s still a person in there who needs your love and attention.”
Taking Care of a Parent Towards the End of Their Life
“That fear-ridden, irreversible release lingers in the doorway, but hesitates for reasons we don’t understand, leaving us to weep with a mixture of angst and gratitude all at the same time. It is finally ushered all the way in, to comfort and carry our loved one to that Better Place. When the time finally comes, we can be enveloped in a warm cloak of long-awaited acceptance and peace that eases our own pain.”
“There will come a time when your loved one is gone, and you will find comfort in the fact that you were their caregiver.”
“Caregiving leaves its mark on us. No matter what we do to prepare ourselves, the hole left behind looms large.”
“To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.”
When you’re caring for your elderly parents, it can sometimes be a little overwhelming and you may feel like you’re alone without knowing where you’re going.
With just a little inspiration, when you need it, it can really help pick up your spirits and give you a little boost when you need it.
If you’re struggling with taking care of your aging parents, there are counseling programs and support groups where you can talk to people who are in similar situations to you. This can really help you talk to people who are in similar situations to you and can really relate to what you’re going through.
To help you find these groups, or to find resources to help you deal with an aging parent, you can chat with your parent’s home care worker to see what they know and how they can help.
Typically, home care health workers will know of places you can go to and people you can talk to when you need help.
Caring for our aging parents is something we all want to do. Afterall, our parents cared for us when we were younger and need them. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy on us or on our parents for our relationship dynamics to change like this.
When your parents need extra help, it may be difficult for them to ask or even accept the help because they feel like they’re a burden to you. It’s also important to note that being a fulltime caregiver for your parents can really change the dynamic of your relationship, and you may find that you are not spending a lot of time together as a family.
Remember to take the time you need, both for yourself and to just be with your parents and enjoy their company instead of just as a caregiver. Do your best to appreciate the situation your parent is in, and give them just a little bit of grace and patience with their needs.
Hopefully, this collection of quotes from team Respect Caregivers has given you a little perspective for caring for your aging parent. We hope that with this, you continue to enjoy your relationship with them.
