Along with the holidays come the inevitable smells of baking. If you have an elderly loved one who may be struggling at times with their own personal care at home, and they like to bake for the holidays, you want to take a few senior home safety tips into consideration to ensure their safety, as well as the safety of those around them.
Does your loved one tend to have memory lapses? Do they, or have they at all during the past few months, forgotten that they had toast in the toaster or the oven was on? If 
so, then this could lead to a potential safety hazard, especially if they inadvertently leave the stove on.
If your loved one is having problems keeping things organized in their head and often walk away from something that they’re preparing in the kitchen, make sure that when they set out to bake this holiday season, someone else is there with them. Your mother may have always baked cookies and pies on her own and she could be determined to do it on her own as well, and if you’re having trouble convincing her to let you help her, you can tell her that you’d like to learn from her. After all, she’s so good at what she does that it would be a shame if she didn’t manage to pass along those incredible recipes for those cookies.
When it comes to senior home safety, there’s no room for “my mother just won’t listen to me.” If you honestly believe that your mother could put herself or anyone else in danger because of her desire to bake for the holidays, you need to step up and do whatever is necessary to ensure her safety. If she refuses to accept help, stop by anyway when you know that she’ll be baking. You could call this a surprise visit that you weren’t planning on stopping by but ended up in the area when you were out shopping.
You might also want to call one of her neighbors and talk to them, especially if you don’t live close enough to her to stop by. If all else fails, you may want to discuss any legal options that you may have with regard to power of attorney and what steps should be taken if you believe that your loved one is a potential risk to him or herself.
Care Connection provides senior home safety in Lansing, MI. For more information about our caregiver services, please call us today at (517) 489-2489.
