Giving the Gift of Quality Time to Aging Parents

When it comes to giving gifts to our aging parents it can be hard to know what to get them for holidays and birthdays. After all, there’s not usually much they really want or need else from a life well-lived. Now that people are living longer due to excellent advancements in healthcare, caregivers can seem a little stretched to spend time with elders and there are simply not enough resources for proper care as it is. 

However, the challenge of looking out for older relatives can seem overwhelming when you haven’t managed to maintain the best relationship throughout your life. But as our parents get older, it’s time to start thinking about how you can repair damaged relationships and form a bond. 

Here are some ideas as to what you can do to gift your aging parents with quality time.

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Make up for any lost time 

Your parents gave a lot to you when you were growing up and were likely there for you through some challenging stretches in your life. As they get older, it is so important to make time for them. As you yourself have gotten older, you’ll know that getting to know your parents now will help you to see them in a different light. You can still learn many things from your parents even as an adult–and they from you. 

Sharing experiences together will help you to pass on wisdom and knowledge to each other and begin to see things from a different perspective than the relationships you had with them when you were a child. 

Fix strained relationships 

It’s entirely possible to fix a challenging parent-child relationship as you get older. Strained relationships often happen during the teenage years while you learn how to push boundaries and experience some tough love in return. The longer that relationship continued in that way, the more strained it became.
Now as an adult, maybe with your own teenagers too, you may feel a sense of guilt for how the relationship with your parents developed over time. You wish things could be better with your parents now that they’re older, but you don’t know where to start the healing process. 

That’s why you should reach out to your parents. Never miss out on shared experiences with them due to your own pride. While events of the past cannot be undone, working to repair the relationship can.
Time spent with any loved one is priceless, but it is even more so the case when it comes to your parents. 

It is never too late until it is 

It can be hard to initiate spending time with people you don’t feel you have a great relationship with. However, that doesn’t mean it is impossible. The truth of the matter is that the older your parents get, the fewer years they have left–and the less time you have to attempt to repair these relationships.
So even if you had challenging relationships with your elder parents in the past, it’s incredibly important to do what you can to restore that before it’s too late.