Continuing Discussion About Sundowning – Children Home from School
October 5, 2008 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
As I continue the examples of sundowning, I think of Mother’s roommate at the nursing home. She often became agitated in late afternoon.
“I must get home. I must get home,” Miss Marie said when she stopped me in the hall. “Please take me there. I must get home before the children come from school.”
So I walked with her down the hallway to Mother’s and her room. “Thank you. Thank you,” she said, as she sat in her rocking chair by the window. “Now I can see the children getting off the bus.”
There were no children; they were now grown with children of their own. But Miss Marie was back in time to an earlier era.
However, her request made perfect sense when you looked at it in her world. Usually she sat quietly by the window waiting for the children. Then she might become diverted when a staff member entered the room with some activity or task for her.
So, when your family member becomes agitated in the later afternoon and even may wander, frustrating as it may seem, you can get a better understanding of how to deal with the situation if you look at it from their world.
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen
