Episode 13: Have you ever gotten a frantic call, an indecipherable text, an unintelligible email from one of your older family members about some tech device going crazy, or an aggressive phone call that they’ve gotten, that totally frustrated or confused them? Join me today on Episode 13, as I share with you a personal story and why better communication with our aging family members is so important, and how we can make it happen.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
Understanding Cognitive Changes
My Mom is my joy, but over the last ten years, I really have noticed a difference in our conversations. In fact, I would find myself getting frustrated because our conversations could go from 0 to 15 real fast when it came to how things have changed over time and how she was determined to carry on as “always”.
I even felt as if in some ways our roles had reversed and she was behaving like a rebellious teenager! I love this woman to the moon and back so I knew it was important to find a better way to communicate with compassion and understanding without her feeling disrespected or left in the cold.
In today’s episode, I share with you a personal story and why better communication with our aging family members is so important, and how we can make it happen. Let me tell you, this is definitely another must we want to incorporate into our arsenal of life!
Tech is not for everyone
Have you ever gotten a frantic call, an indecipherable text, or an unintelligible email from one of your older family members about some tech device going crazy or an aggressive phone call that they’ve gotten, that totally frustrated or confused them?
Well, that happens to me on a pretty regular basis. But it’s not that these loved ones are losing it, it’s that technology, marketing, banking, and so many things have totally changed since the time they were fully active in mainstream society.
Change is going to come, where can we look for help
Don’t get me wrong, They are still active in their communities, churches, and families but most of our loved ones are retired and have no need or even desire to be out there in that professional techie world.
So that’s where we come in, and there is a learning curve. We can’t go on doing things the same way we always have. Things have changed and so have we.
We have a choice to make. We can travel down that painful road or we can learn to reframe our perspective and handle things differently with a deeper understanding and love.
