Our parents or guardians took care of us by themselves without any help, when we were young, so it is a Nigerian custom to reciprocate it…
Well, things are changing and Nigeria is starting to evolve, things that applied a decade ago no longer applies now. Our parents start to age before our eyes, one time they are agile, tiding the household, working hard, even jogging and running.
Over time, they start to age, and it starts to tell on their body, it starts from them not able to perform little tasks like not being able to; stand for long periods, run well, or even sweep the floor, all these are the external limitations we can see, there are some medical issues they may be facing or yet to face, and we may not be aware until it is too late.
Most elderly people don’t like to be taken care of, maybe because it is a huge reminder that they are old, there is a saying “humans start their lifecycle as babies and end it as babies”, deep words, but they are true, the elderly need to be cared for and monitored medically.
This care is usually provided by their loved ones, most especially their offspring’s, yes it is nice and good for a child to take care of his or her parent, but let us face the facts, it is not easy to take care of your parent and take care of your children, it is not only time-consuming it is also stressful.
The elderly need special care, not all their internal organs are functioning as they used to when they were younger, their eating diet needs to change, time they eat, physical routines, even their sleeping routine needs to change.
Some children try to take up the responsibility of taking care of their parents then self, while attending to the needs of their children and working simultaneously, the end result is either one of three suffering from the other.
Some can balance taking care of their elderly ones and effectively caring out their other duties, but most of them are able to manage these feet through the help of others and most recently the help of health care workers, who specialise in taking care of the elderly.
People are starting to move with the new trends of society, which are making things easier for them, you don’t have to entirely take care of your elderly ones and neglect your other responsibilities.
One could simply get a professional to handle the heavy lifting, it is a win-win situation because, you are indirectly taking care of your elderly ones, while having time to take care of your other responsibilities.
So, I leave you with this final question, ‘would you stay in the past and in turn risk the future of your loved ones?’
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