Hopefully, there will be a time when you get to parent your parents. Not to sound too morbid or anything, but it’s far better than the alternative. That and how amazing would it be to give back to them, to show them the same love they’ve shown you all your life. That’s not to say it will be easy. It won’t. Definitely not. In fact, we were thinking about how that transition first takes place, how odd it must be for everyone, and whether it would be possible to make the whole change in roles any easier. That’s when it hit us. Gifts.
There are three times a year when it’s not suspicious to handover a gift – birthdays, Christmas and mothers/fathers day – which provides you with three golden opportunities to delicately say, “you’re getting a bit older, but I’m here to help you” and do it in a slightly humorous way. What we’re saying is, you should give them gifts that will make their lives slightly easier.
That’s why we’ve been out and about doing the hard work for you, pulling together a list of useful gifts that will make your elderly parents giggle and then keep giving. If you don’t mind us saying so ourselves, it’s genius.
- No More Losing Their Keys
There’s this teeny-tiny gadget called Tile Mate, which is one of the world’s best-selling and compact Bluetooth trackers, built to easily loop onto keychains or attach to just about anything you don’t want to lose (yeah, we’re looking at you, phone). Simply link it with your parent’s smartphone or tablet. Then, when they misplace said thing, all they have to do is ring it.
- No More Cold Nights
The thought of your parent being cold at night for whatever reason isn’t going to help you sleep at night. That’s why you should remove all the risks and worry from your mind by gifting your mama or papa a heated mattress pad. Not only will it keep them warm at night, but it will also help them with all their morning aches and pains too.
- No More “What Did You Say”
It’s a pretty common side-effect of growing old but, for some reason, people have a harder time admitting their hearing is going than their eyes. Glasses seem to be acceptable, but hearing aids not so much. So, try and help them realise it’s time by booking them to see a hearing aid specialist. It might be a bit of a sensitive subject right now, but not if you drop the hint in with a funny card.
- No More Hoovering
Another amazing gift for an elderly parent (or any parent in general) has to be an iRobot Roomba Robot vacuum. Not only does it clean all floor types – wood, tile, carpet, vinyl, laminate – it’s super-simple to use too. All your parents need to do is press the ‘Clean’ button and this nifty little robot will get to work. What’s more, it’s self-charging. It literally knows when it’s running low on battery, automatically heads back to its dock and recharges.
Collaborative post
