How do we define aging? And What comes to mind when we hear the words aging? Most people think of being old like almost turning 30, growing white hair, and having wrinkles. According to my younger sister who is eight-years-old she believes that going to 4th grade will make her age and she’s not entirely wrong. In normal life cycles people are changing everyday. There’s growth to learning more about aging and how this could affect our mental health as well. In this situation, I want to dive into aging and growing older and how adolescents or even young adults can be more aware of elders. This is also coming from my perspective of working in elder care as a second generation Hmong American in the field of Family Social Science.
In the topics of aging people are so inclined to think about physical appearance that sometimes we forget what aging does to the body on the inside. As a Personal Care Assistant I had the pleasure of assisting elder care and have seen how my patient went from being able to walk at my pace to slowing down. Or from being able to open a water bottle to needing my help. These are mostly viewed as the minor things that comes with aging. It can also be unbelievable for people to grasp the thought of not being able to do their daily routines. The older humans become the more our bodies can no longer support us and that is okay to ask for help. Its not always easy to find things to do as you get older, therefore I had to do some research to find other activities that aren’t too harsh for elders. One simple task that never age is asking them to tell a story and you can be as specific or broad about this since humans love to talk about themselves. Of course not all of this was easy, there were some things that I have to do research to be a better helper to my patients such as finding the perfect itch cream or food that has iron and vitamin D.
Not only do I notice aging as a Personal Care Assistant but as a granddaughter too. I have witnessed my grandparents being able to remember my birthday to forgetting our last conversation. I would have the same conversation with my grandparents about college life and how to use my degree to become a better helper. A part of aging also makes people forget. Therefore we have to be patient with our aging mothers, fathers, grandparents, neighbors and the community. A couple of resources that I found to be helpful with aging was from the National Institute of Aging and Mayo Clinic. Aging affects everyone and it is important to understand how it affects us as we grow older. A couple of ways to change our views of aging and elder care are to at least have a conversation about it. There are families that do not understand or know what is going on and one way to approach this is by having a conversation. Also being patience with aging can help. In society it may be easy to forget to take a moment and call our family and to check-in with them.
Resources
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/in-depth/aging/art-20046070
Houa Lee Blog 