When you are looking after an elderly person, it is rather difficult to decide what is best for them. If you are the primary caregiver, you are solely and entirely responsible for the well being and health of the individual you are caring for, which make it tough for you to take decisions regarding their welfare. If that senior person is a family member, this makes the situation harder to handle. You have known the person for a really long time and it is rather easy to remember how the person used to be, prior to their mental and physical disabilities. This may affect your judgment. There is one thing that you must have no difficulty in deciding - their independence. Regardless of whether the family member has physical or mental disabilities, you must always ensure that their independence is given high priority.

When it comes to caring for elders, there are two main techniques related to their independence. Here, the former one being promotion, and the latter being maintenance. Make sure you do everything that you can to promote and maintain the level of independence of any senior citizen whom you are caring for. Promoting independence involves encouraging these elders to do as many things as possible for themselves, regardless of whether it is greeted with reluctance or a plain stubborn attitude. Maintaining independence is the act of ensuring that any enthusiasm to do their own things is encouraged and to check if they are in a suitable position to stick with that willingness.

Maintenance and promotion of independence can provide a feeling of achievement to the senior citizen and may even stop them from losing hope in life. In their eyes, they are no longer dependent on someone as they are now capable of doing things by themselves, no matter how small the task may be. Even if they require supervision, it will not affect their enthusiasm. If a person has a caregiver to handle all their tasks it will result in loss of ability to do things by themselves, and in some cases, this can lead to a feeling of aggression towards the caregiver. A feeling of futility and helplessness can cause violent reactions due to their inner frustration, and this anger will be focused on their closest person - you!

An individual's disability is the main factor which decides the nature of independence. When a person is physically challenged, they must be promoted to perform activities that are easy, like help with shopping, making phone calls and writing letters. For a person with mental disabilities activities like, cutting their own dinner, washing up and visiting the toilet alone can be trained. However, it is quite obvious that each person has their has their own capabilities and it is important to check that before implementing any of these ideas. Putting them in danger is the last thing you would want to do. Alternatively, you could try these activities under careful supervision in case you have no prior experience in the world of care giving.

Promoting and maintaining independence makes for one of the most important parts of caring, irrespective of whom you are caring for. It will form the foundation of a helathy relationship with the individual you are caring for even if they are reluctant to perform the tasks allotted. Refusing to cooperate can have worse effects when compared to forcing them to do some activity. Persuading the individual is an important skill that you need here, so you will require a thorough knowledge of the person's interests. To be a nice caregiver, you need to hold back and not take over. When you use the policy of promoting independence, your job will become a whole lot easier and things will fall into place.