Phone Check-Ins

A good conversation prompt does two things at once: it is easy to answer, and it leaves your parent feeling like a person rather than a checklist. Most of the…

Use these conversation starters for seniors to make phone calls warmer and less repetitive, with ideas for memory changes, grief, low energy, and hearing loss.

You call to see how your mother is doing, you ask how she is, and you get “Fine.” The word is polite, automatic, and tells you almost nothing about how…

A bedtime phone call does not have to be long or clever to do its job. Two or three minutes of a familiar voice can help an older adult end…

You ask how the day went and hear, “Fine.” Then a pause. If that is how most of your calls with your parent end lately, the short answers usually have…

You call after work. Your parent says “I’m fine,” but the voice is tight and the answers are short. You want to help without making the worry worse. This guide…

Most of the lines that hurt an aging parent are said by people who love them. They come out in a hurry, in a hard week, when you are scared…

When a parent has dementia, conversation stops being about exchanging information and starts being about how the call or visit feels. The starters below are built to be easy to…

You get a quiet minute between work and errands, you dial, and the call lands on “How are you?” — “Fine” — silence. That usually isn’t a sign that anything…

You call your mom or dad between errands, you ask “How are you,” and a quiet pause lands. A light, playful question is often the fastest way out of that…