Your parents cared for you. Now it's time for you to care for them. If the time has come to find an assisted living facility for your parents, you want to make sure you take the time to find the best one. Before you choose a facility, schedule a tour of the facilities that are on your list. Conducting a tour of several facilities will allow you to choose the one that will provide the best options for your parents. Here are four tips that will help you during your tours.

Keep a Journal

Before you head out for your tours, be sure to purchase a journal. Provide a separate area for each facility you're going to tour. Take notes throughout each tour. Detailed notes will allow you to keep each of the facilities separated and will prevent pertinent info from blending together. Once you've toured each of the facilities, the journal will allow you to look back at your tours remember vital information.

Pay Attention to Smells

During your tour of each facility, pay close attention to cleanliness. Look in corners and along windowsills. It's also important that you pay attention to the way the facility smells – not just in one section but throughout the facility. If you smell foul odors in one section, move on to the next section and see if the odor follows. If it doesn't, the problem might have been a temporary cleanliness issue isolated to one section. However, if the odor lingers throughout the facility, there might be a broader cleanliness issue that has not been addressed.

Visit During a Scheduled Activity

Once you've had your initial visits, arrange a second visit that coincides with a scheduled activity. Watch how the staff interacts with the residents. Do the residents appear to be having fun? Is there a proportionate number of staff to residents? Take notes about the activities so that you can compare them to the other facilities you've visited.

Request a Meal with the Residents

When choosing an assisted living facility for your parents, you want to make sure that the meals will be suitable. To ensure that your parents will be fed well, and that they will enjoy the meals that are offered, request a meal with the residents. Eating a meal at the facilities you're touring will allow you to sample the foods, as well as the serving sizes and the nutritional value of the meals offered.

You want to choose the best assisted living facility for your parents. The tips provided here will help you know what to look for during your tours. Click to learn more about this topic.