It’s not unusual for seniors to struggle with their mental health during the holidays. There is so much pressure during the holiday season to create a picture perfect holiday and to spend it with family. But for seniors the holidays can be very lonely. Seniors who have lost their spouse or can’t be with their children because they live too far away often find the holidays difficult instead of jolly.
Companion care at home can help. When your senior loved one has companion care at home they won’t have to get through the holidays alone. And they may even enjoy their holiday. Some of the ways that companion care at home can help seniors avoid being lonely during the holidays are:
Baking Holiday Favorites
Your senior loved one can still enjoy making holiday cookies, cakes, pies, and other treats. With a companion to help them do the tasks they are having trouble with and to have fun with while baking they can pass on all the family recipes while making all the holiday favorite treats you remember from your childhood. Then your senior parent can box up those treats and send them to you and your siblings or donate them to a local soup kitchen or food pantry so that others can enjoy a homemade treat during the holidays.
Watching Holiday Movies
Holiday movies are one of the best parts of the holidays, but they can be hard to watch when people are lonely. All that relentless joy and family connection is not something that someone who is depressed and alone wants to see. But when your senor loved one has a friendly companion with them to enjoy holiday movies with they will love having holiday movie marathons and watching the holiday classics that they love.
Volunteering
Volunteering is a wonderful way for seniors to find purpose and connection. And during the holidays there are a lot of places that could use some extra help. Your senior loved one and their companion can volunteer handing out meals at a soup kitchen, preparing food packages at a food pantry, walking dogs at the humane society or an animal rescue, or reading Christmas books to children who are in the hospital because they are ill. There are lots of different ways that seniors can volunteer during the holidays. Making another person’s holiday bright will make your senior parent’s holiday better too.
Going On Holiday Outings
With a companion to make going out fun and to help handle the logistics your senior loved one will get to enjoy all the fun holiday outings that are available where they live. Window shopping and going to see all the holiday displays in the store windows is a fun part of the holidays. So is visiting the mall, the botanical garden, and other places that go all out when it comes to Christmas decorations. Your senior loved one may also enjoy local holiday light displays and getting some hot chocolate from the coffee shop or going to a holiday tea service at their favorite restaurant.