Create a Family Legacy

Home Care in Los Angeles CA

There are times when aging loved ones must come to grips with the loss of a loved one, or they are having difficulty transitioning due to a move. Families helping with their in-home care can help with these struggles by spending time reflecting on favorite memories, telling stories, and sharing experiences. Not only does the sharing of their legacy help them come to grips with what they’re struggling with, but moving forward in this manner is helpful during the healing process.

How to Create a Family Legacy During Elder Care:

Digital Recordings: If the family’s aging loved one feels comfortable being filmed, capturing them on recordings is an excellent opportunity to preserve their stories. Not only are families recording their words, but their voice and mannerisms are being preserved as well. Laughter, playful conversation, bits of advice, and stories only the loved one can tell is preserved for the entire family.

Coffee Table Books: A wonderful in-home care project families can work on with their aging loved one is going through all of their notes, letters, cards, and other handwritten papers. Then, take these papers and have them photocopied. That way, the originals don’t become damaged. Use the photocopies to paste into a large coffee table book style scrapbook along with photographs and any other memorabilia that would tell their story.

Memory Transcriptions: As aging loved ones tell their stories during home care, family members can transcribe them on to computers or handwrite in notebooks. This can be done interview style, or families can just let their aging loved one talk while they sit and transcribe. Either way creates a beautiful legacy. These transcriptions create a wonderful journal-style memoir.

Framed Phrases: This is another instance where families will need a photocopier because they will be working on a project with their aging loved one involving going through handwritten notes, recipes, and other papers. The key here is to look for the aging loved one’s handwriting, specifically, and their key thoughts. If families can get their hands on a set of journals their aging loved one doesn’t mind sharing, these would be a true treasure. The photocopies are going to be cut out, and then framed for display in family member’s homes. These make such beautiful gifts so, as part of the in-home care plan, the activity could also include choosing decorative papers to photocopy the writings on.

Final Thoughts:

The healing process is precarious, therefore aging loved ones may not be open to the creation of a family legacy at first. However, with some gentle coaxing, family members who are helping with their senior care may be able to help them understand that the process will be a fun activity and that it will be completed on their terms. For example, if there are things they don’t want to talk about, those topics will not be discussed. By respecting boundaries, it’s possible to create a family legacy in a comfortable manner during elder care without the senior feeling like they’re feeling intruded upon. Instead, they’ll feel like their lives truly are an important part of the next generation.

If you or an aging loved one needs home care services in Los Angeles, CA, call Livewell Private Care at (310) 933-4986.  Servicing Los Angeles, CA and the surrounding areas.