How To Talk To Your Senior Parent About Having Cameras In The House

Having security cameras in the house is a great way to keep an eye on a senior parent that is aging at home. With cameras in the home you will be able to see if your senior loved one needs help even when they can’t call you. For example, if your senior parent were to fall you would be able to see on the camera feed that they needed help and send emergency help. But many seniors are understandably wary of having cameras in their home watching them at all times. If you want to open a dialog with your senior parent about having cameras in the house for safety reasons here are some tips you can use:

Schedule A Time To Talk

Because talking about privacy and safety can be difficult with a senior parent pick a time to talk about these issues when your senior loved one is most likely to be open to having a discussion. Don’t ambush your senior parent for a serious conversation right before bed, for example. Ask your senior parent to sit down and talk with you about this topic after breakfast, or at a set time when both of you will be calm, collected, and receptive to listening to the other person’s viewpoint.

Listen to Their Privacy Concerns

Of course your senior loved one is going to have concerns about giving their privacy to have security cameras in the house. Even though you understand how the cameras can be a good thing from a safety viewpoint you also need to listen to your senior parent when they express their feelings about losing so much of their privacy. Make sure that you are practicing active listening so that you understand what they are saying and they feel like they are being heard.

Be Willing To Compromise

Your senior parent’s security concerns are valid. You may need to be willing to compromise a little bit so that both of you can get what you want. If you want to be able to check on your senior parent remotely and they want some privacy maybe you can agree to something like you will only check the cameras at certain times or that certain rooms won’t have cameras. It’s going to be important that both of you are willing to compromise.

Consider In-Home Care

As an alternative to just using security cameras your senior loved one may prefer in-home care. If your senor loved one has in-home care for a set number of hours each day maybe you can compromise by only using the cameras to check on your senior loved one at night. The in-home care provider can keep an eye on your senior parent during the day. Then you can use the cameras to check on them at night. That’s a good compromise that gives you the peace of mind of being able to see that your senior parent is ok while also recognizing their need for privacy.