May 5 is National Scrapbooking Day. This is a perfect time for you to diversify the care that you give your aging parent by introducing this fun and beneficial activity into your care routine with them. Scrapbooking can offer your senior a wide variety of benefits, including stimulating their mind, boosting their memory, strengthening their cognition, and improving their mental and emotional health through supporting a sense of relevance.

Let these ideas inspire ways for you to make memories with your parent on National Scrapbooking Day and beyond:

• Go through pictures together. Pull out old photo albums, boxes of pictures, and digital pictures and go through them together. Find the ones that are most meaningful to your aging parent. Consider having old or particularly precious pictures copied or digitized and secured on the cloud to protect them.
• Make notes about the pictures. Record what your parent said and their memories when they first saw the pictures. Use these later to form the journal entries that you include with the layouts in the book.
• Go on a shopping trip together to purchase special papers, stickers, and other embellishments designed specifically for use in scrapbooks. These are acid-free, which means that they will not react with oils in your parent’s skin and will last for much longer into the future.
• Spread out building your scrapbook over the course of several days. Enjoy periods of planning layouts, building the pages, and writing journals so that you can maximize the enjoyment.
• When finished, go through the book together. Share it with others in the family, and enjoy time sharing memories and strengthening your relationship.

Starting home care for your aging parents can be a fantastic way to help them enjoy a higher quality of life as they age in place. The highly personalized services provided by an in-home senior care services provider can allow your parent to pursue a lifestyle that is more independent, active, and fulfilling while also ensuring they have the support and care necessary to manage their individual challenges and limitations. Even if your aging parent is largely independent and has only mild to moderate needs, the personalized support and attention from a home care provider can be valuable. This assistance can help your parent to stay more active, enjoy more time out of the house, save time and energy, and experience more physical, mental, and social activity throughout their later years. As their family caregiver, this can give you peace of mind knowing that they will be in good hands both when you are able to be with them, and when you are not.

The staff at Home Care Matters is available to talk with you and your family about all of your needs. Home Care Matters is a home care agency providing quality and affordable home care in Oakwood, GA and the surrounding areas. Call (678) 828-2195 for more information.

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Valerie Darling

Founder, Owner at Home Care Matters

Valerie was born in Miami, FL and after a few family moves, grew up locally in the Marietta, GA area.Valerie is the oldest of 4 (3 younger brothers).She is married and has one child.Valerie is the Founder, Owner and CEO of Home Care Matters.Valerie’s mom, Dee, is the inspiration and primary driver as the how and why the business was born.Valerie says, “My mom is never far from our thoughts.Mom was an integral part of developing and starting HCM before she passed away.Our goal is to stay true to her memory and continue to honor her with the love, values, and ethics she taught us.”

Valerie has the unique experience with home care as she has experienced it from both ends of the spectrum, as a caregiver and as needing care herself as a cancer survivor. Valerie says, “Taking care of someone you love is a physically, mentally and demanding labor of love.Taking care of my mom was the hardest thing I have ever done. It has given me an insight and perspective not many people understand unless you are doing it or have done it.I loved taking care of my mom.I love helping others take care of their love ones too.And now that I’ve been sick, it’s given me a whole new level of empathy and understanding for those who are sick and need help.”

Valerie’s schedule varies daily, but she loves visiting with our clients, families, caregivers, our network partners and being in the office.Says Valerie, “Every day is different, but I wake up excited about what we do, inspired by our team, clients and caregivers.I strive to be a resource to the community.I love my team and I love what we do every day. I like to think my mom would be proud.”

You can reach Valerie by email (Valerie@homecarematters.com) or in our office (770.965.4004).

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