It’s often difficult to connect with older relatives once they stop being active. It becomes increasingly hard when they don’t live nearby. Although you can never get time to flow backward, there are several ways you can connect with the older people in your lives who live far away.
Give Them a Home Tour
Once older people stop traveling, it often becomes a challenge to engage them in conversations about what’s going on in your life because they are so disconnected from it. Older folks living in nursing homes or assisted living West County MO may feel increasingly isolated since they rarely get out. One way you can stay connected with them is by giving them a tour of your home via video. You can walk through each room pointing out where a grandchild sleeps or where you do work. This video home tour may help them visualize events in your life that they can no longer be a part of.
Send Them Snail Mail
To millennials and beyond, snail mail seems awfully outdated, but to the Greatest Generation, mail can be life. Buy a set of notecards and write one letter a week to send to your out-of-town relative. Just a few quick lines about what the grandkids are doing or a funny cartoon from the paper can really brighten the day of someone without family nearby. The whole experience of receiving a handwritten letter shows the receiver that you cared enough to take the time to send it.
Read to Them Over Skype or Zoom
When you’re very young, having a parent read to you is a very soothing experience. The same goes for when you’re older. Record yourself reading a book or read in real-time over Skype or Zoom. Older people often have a difficult time seeing the printed word, so having someone special read aloud is a real treat.
If you can’t be there in person for an older relative, don’t let them feel forgotten. Take time to connect in a way important to them. It’s often difficult to connect with older relatives once they stop being active. It becomes increasingly hard when they don’t live nearby. Although you can never get time to flow backward, there are several ways you can connect with the older people in your lives who live far away. Buy a set of note cards and write one letter a week to send to your out-of-town relative. Just a few quick lines about what the grandkids are doing or a funny cartoon from the paper can really brighten the day of someone without family nearby.
