How do you help your parents as they get older without bossing them?

Both of my folks are in their 70s and still very active. Heck, Dad ran a half marathon last year. But they are getting older and require more hands on care. My siblings and I take turns having them live with us (my turn is coming up). How do you make sure they're still independent but safe without being bossy.How do you help your parents as they get older without bossing them?
You can't really make them do anything they don't wanna do but when my grandparents and parents are around I don't let them do anything. Anytime they try to lift a finger I tell them to sit down that I got it and if they insist on doing it then I step aside. But I am bossy about them not doing anything because they have done their work, raised their kids it time for me to put them on a pedestal and do anything in my power for them to just sit back and enjoy life.How do you help your parents as they get older without bossing them?
My mom is seventy-eight and has been widowed for years, so I understand where you're coming form.





The best thing you can do is continue to respect them. Being older doesn't mean turning into a child. Unless they have cognitive problems, they are capable of thinking for themselves. If they do have cognitive difficulties, keep your sense of humor and get emotional support.





All the best.
I dont agree that they would like to live in an old age shelter community as they wont' have expected that they would ever have to leave there children alone and dieng alone with strangers.


Live with them and your joint experiences will take you both ahead in life to be happy forever.
I haven't had the pleasure of dealing with my parents yet but my grandmother is in her late 80's and lives with me off and on. She is actually moving in with me permanently when we have our house finished. We have always got a long great so that helps things a lot. Something I always found useful was not so much ';telling'; her what she needed to do but giving her safe options. We just made everything easy to do (simplified it). Since she is still capable. Here are some things we did:





1. All emergency numbers are listed on the fridge in large print (i.e. 911, ambulance, police, police non emergency, fire department, nurses help line, work phone numbers and cell numbers).


2. Cordless Phone with all the above numbers pre-programmed with all the above numbers.


3. Cell Phone (under my name) with minutes constantly put on it. All the numbers are pre-programmed so when she is out and about she can always get a hold of myself or my husband.


4. GPS for her purse. We bought her a small GPS) so if she ever gets lost she can use it to find her way home, grocery store, gym, etc. We have home already set so she just needs to hit the ';Go Home'; button.


5. Elderly Shuttle - you can arrange for a shuttle (there is a fee) that picks them up on certain days to bring them to different shopping areas, gyms, etc.


6. Pre-Prepared Meals - I typically make breakfast and dinner for everyone. However if I can't I always have that pre-made with lunch so that all my grandmother needs to do is pull it out of the fridge/freezer and at most put it in the microwave.





All the above have made her life a little easier. We try and find things close by to the house so she can easily walk to them. This way we are really not bossing her around but giving her safe options to make her decisions with. We can also check in on her easily so we know she is always safe. My grandmother is a very stubborn lady so telling her what to do really isn't an option even if we wanted to. In fact it would just end up making her more eager to do it just to spite us lol. I am really looking forward to seeing what others do to help their elderly family members. =)
You should get them into a retired living community. It isn't fair they have to be moved around from one house to another.