Aging Parents: Feel-Good Outing Ideas~ After A Long, Cold Winter

2013 Philadelphia Flower Show


Feel-Good Outings

Aging parents needn't be couch potatoes to feel depression or cabin fever due to a harsh winter. It's easy fo anyone! Cold, an absence of sunshne, and slippery sidwalks can make anyone feel cranky, if not depressed. "Trapped in the house," "Looking at the four walls." I've heard these expressions from elders.

And "cranky" may not go away easily. Negatives like a bad health diagnosis, another friend's problem, the world's problems, not to mention loss of a friend, pet, or part of a support system (dentist, hair dresser) add to being miserable.

Please go to my other site to view entire post.

Making Aging Parents Happy: How An Adult Child's Good Friend Helps and Why

A good friend calls with thanks for our New Year's Eve Dinner Party. Being together was great. We talk about our plans for the day and rest of the week. My friend is playing bridge today and Friday.

"Are you playing with your friend's elderly mother today?" I ask.  "Not today, but I'll be playing with them Friday. You know, her mother's 90, doesn't hear well--really doesn't hear well and a lot of our group doesn't want to play with her because of that-- but she's a good bridge player.

I was appreciative of anything that made my mother happy (she died at 94) and if I can do this for Marcia, I'm happy to. Playing bridge gives Marcia's mother something to look forward to and gets her out of her house....."

to view the rest of this post please visit my other site at WordPress.com