However, some of the ways we live may have to be modified to accommodate an older family member.  Often these include some of the same safety guides we use for children. 

• Ramps instead of stairs
• Gates in front of stairs to prevent nighttime wandering
• Lights that turn off or on automatically
• Hot water temperature lowered
• Faucets that turn off automatically
• Sharp objects out of reach
• Eventually stoves that are unplugged or with burner locks
• Locks on cabinet doors

This is doable to keep your loved ones safe, no matter what the age.

What have you discovered for child and adult supervision and safety?

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Safety for the Young and Old

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• Our parents caring for us
• Caring for our children
• Involvement with our grandchildren
• Overseeing our parents’ care or needs
• Caring for other family members, of various ages,  who have become our responsibility.

Throughout all of these eras will come various decisions.  We will make them as a child or an adult.  We will come to points where it’s difficult to know what to do, but we must choose a path after acquiring information and knowledge.

One of the more difficult decisions many of us have to make is whether and when to place a parent in an assisted living or nursing home, depending on their level of care.  Perhaps other family members don’t understand and resist.  Perhaps the parent doesn’t understand either.

This becomes one where you must consider many factors, the pros and cons, the possibilities and the impossibilities, the practical and the impossible.

It’s a decision point I had to reach with my mother.  When I placed her in a nursing home, due to her Alzheimer’s and needing more care than I could give her, I discovered that much of my agonizing was for naught.  Mother thought she’d gone back to her old home and was with her sister.  When I visited, she never expected to leave with me. 

 Fortunately for me she adapted to this world of her creation and expected me to enter it with her.  I learned to enjoy it, too, and was thankful I could give her pleasure in this reverse role of parenting.

What have been some of your decision points of parenting?

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Decision Points in Parenting

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To my post, Design a Touch Quilt for Alzheimer’s Patients, one of my readers pointed me to Eva’s Loving Touch Lap Quilts.  Here we learn about the Alzheimer’s patient’s need for tactile or sensory stimulation and comfort. 

This reminds me how much my aunt seemed to need the sensation of something comforting to rub her hands over as she sat in her rocking chair.  My mother, in her Alzheimer’s years, enjoyed quilts and reminiscing about making them in her childhood and helping me establish a quiltmaking business during our country’s Bicentennial years.

If you don’t have time to make “touch quilts,” as I describe in my post, you also can find those specially designed for the person with special needs, whether a child or adult  at various places including  The Alzheimer’s Store , mentioned in my other article.

Perhaps you have quilting friends who make these, too.

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“Touch Quilts” for Parenting Your Parents

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• Record the memories
• Jot them down
• Pull out pictures and have the patient tell you about them (if they’re able)
• Make some scrapbook pages with these memories
• Involve the whole family so they can have memories of doing this with  the Alzheimer’s family member
• Take the patient to July 4th events if they’re capable
• Prepare foods the family member did or enjoyed on these occasions in earlier years
• Join in any July 4th activities at the nursing home, if your family member resides there.

What do you do to remember the Fourth of July as you parent your parent?

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July 4th for Alzheimer’s Parents

Researchers in The Netherlands showed that statins, normally taken to lower bad cholesterol, can also protect nerve cells from becoming damaged, as occurs in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

That nerve cell protection is believed to lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. According to Alzheimer’s Association, as many as 5.3 million people in the US live with the disease.

In animal experiments conducted in the lab at University of Groningen, the statin Lovastatin prevented nerve cells from dying and thereby prevented the loss of memory capacity.

The research was published in the June issue of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Statins Might Protect Against Alzheimer’s

I’ve also found this a great way to encourage children’s fine muscle coordination.  As I’ve substituted in kindergarten this year, and followed the youngsters throughout the school year, I’ve seen a great improvement in their ability to stay within the lines, even with small pictures.

Coloring is more than simply busy work. It’s a way to develop children’s coordination, a form of rehab after accidents and strokes, keeps arthritic fingers active, and often leads to a hobby in some form of art.  With Alzheimer’s patients, it helps keep their minds and fingers active.

There’s an interesting article, Coloring Pictures Is a Lot More Than Just Fun, at Better Parenting that explains the benefits of coloring for your youngsters…for learning and for fun.  I’ve even sat down with youngsters and colored, trying out various drawing/coloring items and materials.

It can become a grand experience in artistic discovery as well as muscle development and coordination.

How have you used coloring and art in your family or at school?

(Amazon image)

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Do Your Youngsters Like to Color & Draw?

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I’ve taught scrapbooking and family history activities at a local nursing home and enjoyed this experience as much as the patients seemed to.

We made a scrapbook with a page for each resident who attended the sessions.  Using photos taken by the nursing home staff over a period of time, an activity coordinator and I arranged the pictures, chatted with the residents about them, and encouraged each patient to choose colors and embellishments.  Each did as much or as little as they could.

We kept the procedure very simple. using materials I compiled.  I also provided a family history questionnaire that we filled out with the patients as they finished the scrapbooking page.  They really enjoyed chatting about the memories these questions evoked.

The scrapbook we produced was kept at the nursing home, as something the residents could look at again and again.

Does anyone have similar experiences they would like to share?

(I do put together the supplies for these scrapbooking and family histories, along with instructions, so others, in their home or in nursing homes, can become involved in activities of their own.)

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Scrapbooking with Alzheimer’s Patients

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They even provided some more blogs for caregivers.

If you’re looking for information and just a place to get together with other caregivers, for comfort and encouragement, perhaps you’d like to check out these blogs.  Also, you may find tips on making life more enjoyable for the person with Alzheimer’s.

If you have any more resources, do share them with us.  Caregivers need all the encouragement and support they can find during their journey with their Alzheimer’s patient.

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More Alzheimer’s Parenting Resources

The fact that she might not know them seemed to have no bearing upon the youngsters, who began visiting her at the nursing home when they were 2- and 6-years old.  They were 8 and 12 when she passed away. 

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To the younger child, Mother’s ramblings were a language he said only he understood.  “Grandma talk to me,” he said, when I wondered what she was saying. 

When asked why she visited a great grandmother who didn’t know her, my granddaughter once replied, “Because it makes Grandma happy.”

Often we think we must shelter the young from illnesses like Alzheimer’s and other conditions of the elderly.  However, these are a fact of life and often seem easier for youngsters to accept than adults.

My mother has been gone for a number of years, yet her great grandchildren remember her with fondness and talk of our visits to the nursing home, highlighted by tea parties.

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Children and the Elderly

Finding caregiver support groups in your area, or online, can be a challenge.  Here are a few suggestions.

Check out the following places in your community to see if they have a support group or know of any:

• Home health agencies
• Senior Center
• Local Hospital
• Local Nursing homes
• State Alzheimer’s Association
• State Department of the Elderly or Family Services
• Others caring for elderly parents or spouses

If there is nothing in your community, the groups meet when you’re at work, or you live too far from an organized community, you might want to check out online support groups.  Also, by reading blogs about Alzheimer’s caregiving and leaving comments that the blogger and other readers might answer, you’ll feel more connected with the caregiver community and not so alone.

What suggestions do you have? Are there particular caregiver groups/organizations you find particularly helpful.

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Finding Caregiver Support Groups