Tips for Helping Your Elderly Parent Remember Important Tasks

If your aging parent has recently been displaying signs of forgetfulness, you are most likely concerned about their well-being if they live in a home or apartment on their own. Beginning signs of memory loss can a frightening experience for both the person with the memory troubles as well as you the caregiver.

Here are some tips you can use to help trigger your parent's memory so they take care of important tasks instead of forgetting about them altogether.

Invest in an Automatic Medication Reminder Tool

Many older people rely on several medications to take care of conditions or ailments they suffer from due to their advanced age. If you are worried about your parent forgetting to take an important medication, or mixing up pills and taking them at the wrong times, an automatic reminding system may be beneficial.

Look into purchasing an automatic pill box to place all of your parent's weekly or monthly pills inside of in advance. These have small locking lids along with an alarm system that goes off to remind your parent it is time to take a pill. The locking lids will give you the peace of mind they will not take pills before they are required. Alternately, phone applications or automatic email reminders will help trigger your parent's memory when it is time to take their medication.

Encourage Your Parent to Carry a Notebook

A small notepad and pen can be extremely important in helping your parent remember tasks as they go about their day. When they remember they need to take care of a specific project, encourage them to jot it down in their notebook. This can be kept in a shirt pocket, back pocket, or even on a chain around your parent's neck if desired.

Whenever they feel flustered in thinking they may have forgotten to do something, they can take a look at their notebook to see if they had written notes to help trigger their memory. Make it a point to explain to your parent that this notebook is as important as a pair of glasses, and should be kept on their person at all times.

Keep a Scheduled Routine to Encourage Repetition

It is best for your parent to have a routine in the way they handle their daily tasks. If they stick to a timed schedule, it will become habit to do the tasks they need to tend to each day. A timed schedule will also trigger the memory into realizing something was skipped if the tasks are getting done ahead of time.

Keep a written schedule of important tasks to be done each day on a piece of paper and hang it on your parent's refrigerator. This can be looked at throughout the day to help your parent realize whether they had accomplished all of the items listed. A magnetic clock can also be added next to this list.

For more tips or ideas for helping your parents remember important things, contact local assisted living facilities.