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Perhaps the grandchildren can supply a
“joke of the day” or a bit of information about one of their classes. You can let your senior know that you’ve had
the car checked and the winter tires have been taken off so it’s a sure sign of
spring. Or, if winter is one the
horizon, the battery has been checked so you’re prepared. Remind them that they taught you well so now
they don’t have to worry about you looking after yourself and your family. Ask them about themselves. Have they seen their neighbour? Ask them if they have seen the first robin of
the season or tell them that you were remembering one particular family
holiday.
It might seem like a lot of work and it
does help if you can do some preparation so that you will have something to
talk about. Have a list of questions or
comments that you can use if you’re not the sort of person who chats easily
with your older relatives. Like most
things, the prep work can be time-consuming or even a bit tedious but it pays
in the end. Remember, just because you
asked the question today does not mean that you can’t ask it tomorrow.
You might as well give up trying to explain
that even though you’re home, you’re expected to do some additional work on a
project or that you have to prepare for a meeting. Instead of describing in detail just how busy
you are switch the conversation to something that won’t cause them to worry
about you. Tell them about your garden,
tell them about something fun that you did on the weekend or tell them about
your interesting friends. Turn the focus
away from how hard you work as they may not understand the kind of work you do
or the pressures that you are under. You might end up spending a lot of time
trying to impart details about your job and as you watch the minutes tick by,
it only adds to your stress knowing that you have a big day tomorrow. The object is to relieve your tension and at
the same time, let your senior know that you are thinking of them; that you
love and care about them.
Before you pick a time, make sure that you
can follow through with the daily phone calls.
If there is no way that you can call every day, is there some other
family member who can take 5 minutes to call your senior? Remember, the object is to alleviate your
hassle as well as letting your loved-one that they are still important to you. Making one short call a day can help reduce
several phone calls at inconvenient times and puts you in control of the
situation.
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