“Mom, please stop cribbing and disturbing me with your issues. I have Zoom meetings to attend, you can do these petty jobs yourself.” It is not unusual to come across instances where during work-from-home we have inadvertently burdened our elderly with more household chores than they can handle.  This leads to them being physically as well as emotionally stressed. And with the pandemic on us, the situation seems to have grown more rampantly than we could have wished for.

Seniors and elderly are locked in the houses. Any kind of house help has been restricted from providing services to them forcing the seniors to do all chores themselves. As much as they try to take care of their body, these tasks slow them down physically with normal problems like backaches and joint pains making movement difficult and painful. And if they are in a joint family set-up, they are expected to pitch in more with taking care of their grandchildren. Though this may seem like a very pleasant and merry filled environment where the grandparents and the grandkids get to spend a lot of time together – actually, it might get excessively exhausting for the elders. ‘Looking after and caring for the needs of the kids and running behind them all over the house’ is a scene that looks well only in the movies but in real life it is a tedious job for the elders to carry out. 

Besides the household chores are the other requirements of life—acquiring groceries, medicines, taking care of their banking requirements, following up on investments etc. 

No wonder all this is playing havoc with their mental peace and health. Where they should be relaxing at this age, they are over-worked; where their mind should be worry-free, their to-do list seems to be going on and on and on; where they should get restful sleep, they are turning insomniac because of the constant onslaught of work...not a pleasant scenario for our loved elderly members of the family.

 It is important for family members to understand that the elders need caring and rest too. Though they are the elders, their growing age does not let them be as enthusiastic as they were before. During the pandemic;

1) Let your parents or other seniors in the house know that they are not a burden for anyone. 

2) Look after their health as they try to do; help you in order to make your daily routine smooth.

3) Acknowledge their efforts, make them feel involved in the family and other smallest decisions during the day

4) Focus on any behavioural changes that they show or mention in the normal conversations. 

5) Lower their news consumption as that might lead to depressing them.

6) Introduce them to newer mediums of social engagement. It will distract them from any stressful or anxious thoughts as well as lower the feelings of loneliness. 

7) Lower your expectations about a clean house, meals etc., so that you stress neither them nor yourselves.