Refusing To Care For Elderly Parents. It may seem to your aging parent that one moment, they’re going about a routine they’ve had for decades and the next, they’re being told to. A physical therapist would continue to come to his home and he would need a visiting nurse.
There are different reasons elderly parents reject each form of assistance. Resisting care and digging in their heels are two hallmarks of dementia, and they are among the most common reasons that adult children look for help as caregivers. The concept of a family coming together in love and adoration to care for their aging loved ones—without argument or issue—is sometimes a bit of a falsehood.
When an elderly parent refuses help, adult children often become frustrated and angry and sometimes just give up.
While it might be obvious to you, it can often take them a while to realise, or accept, that they need assistance. It is a significant change where they must come to terms with the fact they can no longer live completely independently. Understanding the reasons why your aging parent acts stubborn and refuses help is important in approaching the conversation with empathy and respect. The agingcare.com caregiver forum is filled with stories of irrational elderly parents, personality changes, hallucinations and temper tantrums.