5 Things to do with your Ageing Parents

If you are in your 20s or 30s, your parents are likely to be in their 50s or 60s. Often, we are so occupied with work and our social lives that we barely have our parents in our thoughts or have time allocated for them.

But as masters of our lives. We can always choose to slow down, especially on weekends and evenings, to take time out for ageing parents. It is important to seize the moment with them before they are gone. Why give ourselves an opportunity to regret when you can choose to rejoice and celebrate the moment?

Here are some suggestions of things you can do with your ageing parents.

(1) Watch Television with them

Many folks in their 50s are avid television watchers. They typically watch a lot of television everyday and follow up and every single episode of a drama even if it is over 700 episodes long. 

Watching television allows you to find out what moves them, frustrates them, anger them and grow a common topic with them. 

If you can find out why your parents enjoy watching the "boring shows", you are getting to know them better!

(2) Dine with them

Some who are attached or single may be guilty of dining more often with their dates and special one rather than their own ageing parents. 

Others, may be guilty of spending more time eating with their young family or eating out with friends and colleagues than with family members. 

But who says you can't dine with your parents and friends together? Or have your toddler dine with their grandparents? Bringing your old friends and parents together is a great opportunity for your parents to get more involved in your social circle. While getting your children to dine with their grandparents is a great bonding activity. Your ageing parents would relish the youthful energy injected in the otherwise dull meal.

(3) Exercise with them

Not every old folk age actively or healthily. When your ageing parents fall sick, it brings unnecessary stress and worries, on top of the cost of medical care. 

These days, there are many free exercise groups practicing Taichi or the Taiwanese's exercise "Rejuvenate Yourself" held in the early mornings in a park nearby. They are usually held at timings before work. 

Exercising with your parents before work allows you to kill numerous birds with one stone. You get to bond with your parents, you keep them healthy, you introduce them to a social circle where they can meet friends their age, you keep yourself healthy, and you are likely to get to work on time, refreshed.

(4) Have an outing

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There might be many new trendy and cool places to visit in your town. It might be a new shopping mall or a new garden or cafe. Your parents may know about these places through the news and from watching TV. But they may not have any motivation to go there. 

Bringing your parents to these popular new places can inject them with a good dose of youthful energy and possibly liven their spirits to be surrounded by a lively, bustling crowd. It is also a good chance to close up the generational gap--who says senior folks cannot hang out at trendy new places?

(5) Attend religious events

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If your folks are spiritual and have a strong faith, you may occasionally join them in their religious events or practices even if you are not spiritual or interested in spirituality. 

Not only do you signify that you have an interest in their life, you are interested to learn about their beliefs and their world. You may be an atheist or have your own religious beliefs, but it's good to put aside your cynicism and disbelief and bring an open-mind when you attend these events with your parents. 

There are possibly many others who share the same beliefs with your parents. So learning about your parents's attraction to a particular faith will allow you to understand the millions other who are also interested in the same faith as them.

However, if your folks are not spiritual while you are, you may invite your  parents to your events so they may be provided with a way to open up their world, to meet people and realise there's something more to life than their own little world.