I have been trying to help seniors most of my life. Watching how many of them use walkers got me to thinking. When you use a walker your hands are not free to carry a purse and a bag. It made sense to have a bag that you attached to the walker that would hold all your stuff.
So, I am always on the lookout for things to help my mother ease into growing older. When she first needed to use a walker I search for ideas. What I found on the internet and on Pinterest was walker bags that attached to the front of walkers. I decided to design and make my own so I could make them for my mother and other seniors that may like something a little different. I made several proto types after talking to many of the seniors in a senior living complex. For my first run of these I did not use a lot of pockets. As I talked to the ladies that would use them they gave me some great suggestions. (See below) When you use a walker bag you are essentially taking a lot of things with you. You can’t carry a purse that will fall off your shoulders. It is hard to hold on to a purse when using a walker.
The walker bags I made has pockets on the front and the back of the bag. Then I added more pockets on the inside. The largest request is pockets for specific things. Such as a pocket large enough to hold a water bottle. I also made a place for the house keys. Pockets for pens, paper and more. To decorate many of them, I machine embroidered the designs on one side. I put quilt batting inside of them and all are completely lined. Vintage buttons were put on the front for looks and to be able to put the walker bags on the walkers. I will be creating a different way to attach the walker bags to the walker in my future walker bags. The vintage buttons are not strong enough. I have patterns available that I have created.
On another note; I am a caregiver to my mother. Being a caregiver is no easy task and sometimes very emotional as well. No one can really prepare you for what being a caregiver to your parents will be like. I believe it does depend on what kind of relationship you have with your parents and how patient you can be with them. My own experience has been a rough road. There is always some kind of communication problems between parents and adult children who are trying to take care of their parents. I did approach my parents years before they needed any kind of real care and I become a caregiver and started asking the tough questions. Such as, did they have their wills made. Did they have a living will and where are their important documents. How is their filing system set up. Did they have a password book for all the stuff online. Not that I really needed to know details just how to find them. If you find yourself in a position to be your parents caregiver ask a lot of questions. I also recommend that you talk to other caregivers and find a caregivers support group. Reason being that there is a very good chance of getting caregivers burnout.