Haiku Friday – Don’t Abuse Grandma!

Hello everyone! Happy Friday! Today is Haiku Friday but I don’t have a haiku for you. 😦 I got back last night from a mini vacation and didn’t have the time or energy to prepare one––sorry. My sister, Kathleen came down from NYC for a few days and since we both have birthdays this week we decided to go down to the Florida Keys. We had three marvelous days of swimming, kayaking, fishing, and generally celebrating our birthdays. We had a great time but I’m exhausted.  We have plans of continuing to celebrate our birthdays here in Miami until she leaves on Sunday. 😉

 

I wrote a guest post about elderly abuse a couple of months ago and I had plans to post it on my blog eventually, so that day has come. Today I will share that post with you. It’s an issue that I care about and that more people should be made aware of.

 

Elder Abuse

 

 

I’ve written on the subject of abuse and bullying on many occasions on my blog but I don’t think I’ve ever specifically addressed the abuse of the elderly. This is obviously an important subject that’s too often overlooked.

 

Words cannot describe how much I love my maternal grandmother. She passed away years ago but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. I can’t imagine someone abusing my sweet, kindhearted ‘granny’ in any way. Sadly, there are plenty of grandparents being abused on a daily basis.

 

Elder abuse happens to men and women, in all ethnic, social and economic groups.

 

And while a lot of media attention has been given to stories of elder abuse by caregivers in private homes, the truth is that anyone can be guilty of committing elder abuse, including family members.

 

Elder abuse is generally divided into the following categories:

 

Physical Abuse

 

Sexual Abuse

 

Domestic violence

 

Psychological Abuse – The willful infliction of mental or emotional anguish by threat, humiliation, or other verbal or nonverbal conduct. This includes threatening to put them in a home if they don’t act the way you’d like them to.

 

Financial Abuse – The illegal or improper use of an older person’s funds, property, or resources.

 

Neglect – The failure of the caregiver, and that could be the spouse, son, daughter or grandson/daughter, to fulfill his or her care giving responsibility. Is it abusive to not call or visit your elderly parents for months at a time? I’d say yes.

 

We shouldn’t forget that every day we grow older. No one gets any younger and one day we will be the elderly. We will no longer have the speed, agility or strength we have now. Our bodies will grow weaker, our minds will become foggy, our vision cloudy . . . Would you like someone to take advantage of that? How would you feel if you were discarded because you were no longer young?

 

Elder abuse is a substantial subgroup of Family Violence. It may be more widespread than thought. Awareness of its occurrence is a first step in halting its progression.

♥

If you’d like to know the origins of this poem look here.

Have a great weekend everyone! 😀