When you have a loved one who lives in a nursing home or an assisted living facility, you want them to feel like they have the attention and love they deserve. You want to foster a healthy relationship between your loved ones’ grandchildren and younger family members to help ease the loneliness your elderly loved ones may feel while encouraging your younger generations to be more open and compassionate at the same time.
There are several ways you can help foster intergenerational bonds between your oldest family members and the youngest ones in your family, and the sooner you start incorporating these bonds, the better. Here are some fun activities that are great for kids of all ages as well as seniors. You’ll also learn why it’s important to foster these bonds and how they benefit seniors especially.
Why Are Intergenerational Bonds So Necessary?
Your younger family members need to know where they came from and who their elderly grandparents and great-grandparents are. Often, these family members don’t live on their own anymore, instead residing in nursing homes where they feel isolated and lack control of their own lives. Having access to younger family members can help the elderly feel heard and validated as well as loved and cared for. In forming intergenerational bonds between younger, more outspoken generations with their older bloodlines, those living in nursing home settings can be more reassured that their needs will be met. At the same time, they have emotional and mental fulfillment doing activities as well.
A common reason why some families seek the help of Nursing Home Law Center lawyers for their elderly loved ones, for example, is because of elderly abuse and neglect. Younger family members, while bonding with their older family members, can spot signs of neglect in their loved ones during bonding activities, report them to the proper authorities, and help loved ones find relief and restitution.
Fun Activities For Kids And Seniors To Enjoy
There are several activities that the young and old alike can enjoy together, and they don’t have to cost a lot of money or take a lot of effort to complete. Even an activity as simple as flying a kite can create lasting memories, boost morale, and encourage bonding. Here are some other ideas.
Building Puzzles
Puzzles are a great way to bond older generations with younger ones, simply because most people know how to build a puzzle and most nursing home facilities have puzzles readily available to build in their community rooms or entertainment areas. This means you can easily set up a fun activity for your senior and young family members without putting a lot of planning or effort into it.
To make a puzzle activity even more fun and engaging, have a custom puzzle designed out of a family photo. This makes building the puzzle a fun surprise for everyone while they work together to assemble the pieces. As a bonus, puzzles help with healthy brain activity and hand-eye coordination, which is great for everyone.
Creating Gratitude Journals
Gratitude journals double as a fun family memory and craft activity that can last a lifetime. All you need are some old notebooks, family photos, and other journaling tools that young and older family members can assemble to create pages of memories along with notes they want to include. What makes gratitude journals such a treat is that they not only encourage creativity and are fun to make, but they also spur healthy conversation so your elderly loved ones can share their experiences and memories with their younger relatives.
Cooking/ Preparing Food Together
Cooking together is a great way to help your elderly family members keep their brains sharp and feel more self-reliant and is also a terrific way to allow them to share their favorite cooking recipes and tips with younger generations. If cooking is not allowed in their nursing home setting, that’s OK — preparing other snacks or sharing a picnic can have much of the same result in bonding. Just make sure to remain conscious of any dietary and safety restrictions when preparing cooking time together and it’s wise to monitor this activity as well, if needed.
Going On A Walk
A family stroll boosts mental health and clarity on top of being physically healthy, so consider setting up regular intergenerational family strolls around a nursing home facility or up and down a safe and quiet street. These strolls can promote healthy communication while getting the wiggles out of younger kids and invigorating seniors with being outdoors and moving.
If going outside is not an option, then there are plenty of ways to stay active indoors, including doing dance parties or doing senior-friendly yoga together. The key is to be active and work together as a team, which bolsters physical and mental health for everyone.
Doing Light Chores
While doing chores may seem like a task and not a fun activity, it provides many benefits for fostering intergenerational bonds. For starters, it helps seniors feel independent while they show younger ones how to fold sheets, sweep floors, and rake leaves, and it helps younger children learn to respect and listen to their elders outside of their parents. It’s a great way to help everyone feel useful, which can create the best bonds of all.
Wrapping Up
It’s never too late to encourage intergenerational bonds between seniors and kids. All it takes is a little patience and creativity and you can enjoy seeing everyone flourish with a genuine bonding experience that will create memories for years to come.
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