Activities to keep Mum occupied

[Redwitch]

Hi everyone,

My Mum has had a partial diagnosis for AD, I am her main carer along with my family, but we are all out at work/uni for most of the day.

There are a few household task Mum can do without to much trauma, and we have her knitting squares for a charity blanket and she plays patience on a Nintendo DS. Unfortunately she still gets bored which in turn makes her depressed, any other ideas of what we can do to keep her occupied. We have tried a variety of magazines but she looses interest easily, suduko used to be a favourite but sadly no longer achievable. It needs to be something she can pick up and put down easily.

We are still awaiting the referral for a local day centre...

Thank you

Redwitch

 

[Sue J]

Activities

Hi Redwitch

Do you think your Mum would like to do a collage or somthing - there are such lovely pictures in magazines maybe she could cut them out for a particular theme and paste onto a canvas or board of some sort. You would only nedd a gentle , even child's pair of scissors if that was a problem and harmless PVA glue. Maybe she could creat a garden, a meal, a seaside or landscape scene?
Or a collage of family photos? Just a thougnt - hope you find something that helps.

Best wishes
Sue J

 

[Christin]

Hello Redwitch, I wonder if you could give some idea of what your mother liked to do in the past, did she have any hobbies?

Activities can be so dependent on the stage your mum has reached, but at one time FIL liked to have the scrabble board out, we didn't keep scores or rules but we would just add words at anytime, and he liked to do that too, he often played against himself when no one else was at home

I have to say the thing he liked to do most was mess about in the garage, and he was always worked with car/bus engines. I'm not suggesting that for your mum for one moment, but I think that there was some familiarity for him there. The chances are, whatever your mum liked to do before, if you can find something similiar it might still interest her now.

One of the other things was jigsaws, so many images to choose from, or perhaps a larger size solitaire or something similar would help?

Good luck, I hope you find something. Please let us know, it might be very useful for others too.

Best wishes.

 

[AndreaJane]

Hi there, I too have the same problem with finding things for my Mum to do. If you have a local Hobbycraft shop they have a huge stock of craft and hobby items - have a browse and it might give you some ideas for your Mum. Although I bought a few things mum has yet to take any interest but I think thats because she wants to go home from her CH and all her efforts are concentrated on that! Also charity shops often have puzzles and things that might keep her entertained for a while.
If you do come across anything, please post on here about it as I am sure it will be useful to many others!

AndreaJane

 

[Angel1973]

There is also very little that can occupy my MIL but for a while she did like to paint and colour in.

Word searches were a little less taxing than most other puzzles and she could pick up and put down as she wished.

She was also very useful at sorting old photos into albums as it seemed to bring back nice memories.

 

[Cookie21]

I have bought jig saws for my Mum, unfortunately she soon got fed up of them. Bought several puzzle books, but she really isnt interested in them. Years ago, I started a patchwork quilt, and thought it would be a good idea to lend a hand with it... for awhile she did help sewing the patches together. But really hasnt got the patience to do much

 

[flinny]

Hello,

I have found puzzle's good for mum. She is now in the advanced stage but will still sit and move the pieces around the table and if i point out matching pieces will put them together.

 

[Katrine]

Activities at which she can 'succeed'

I endorse the suggestion to find similar activities to her past interests but not too complicated. MIL used to do so many hobbies including painting, drawing, gardening, crosswords, jigsaws, knitting, listening to music and reading. She also used to keep bees, chickens and goats, and was always taking up new hobbies, even when she was a busy working single mum. Inevitably those active hobbies reduce with age and the more sedentary ones remain. While brain functioning is still OK that's fine but eventually these can become too mentally demanding, as you are finding.

MIL can still do simple crosswords, small jigsaws, snipping at things in the garden and weeding, and simple knitting of a plain scarf. I bought her a little jigsaw of 30 pieces for Christmas that lives in a tin (I suppose it is meant for travelling). She loves it because she can do it in 20 minutes. The knitting she can take up and put down and doesn't have to remember a pattern. The garden work is pottering and doesn't again require a plan or a timescale. The crossword is in the daily paper. She used to do lots of crosswords and puzzles in those puzzle books but somehow they bore her now. She likes the immediacy of today's crossword and knowing that if she completes it she is beating some other people who are also working on it.

The key feature of all these activities is that she can be successful at them and can complete them. With so many of MIL's previous hobbies she experiences a sense of failure because she cannot do them to her previous high standards so will not attempt them at all. Drawing and painting is an example.

I am sure you will find some good ideas from your own experience. However, you will not always be able to avoid the boredom because she is needing more entertainment and support to be provided by other people. This sadly is not going to change because the ability to self-direct and plan is reducing. I do feel guilty when I know that MIL is frequently bored and lonely but I have to keep telling myself that I am not responsible for her happiness. We want our loved ones to be happy and fulfilled but we can't make them happy.

 

[danny]

Hi, this is quite good.


http://www.active-minds.co.uk/aquapaint.html


Just one idea

 

[CYN]

My husband used to colour simple pictures as in children s books. He seemed to enjoy it sitting beside me as i was on the computer.

Cynthia

 

[sianyt17]

I used to have this problem before my dad gave up work to care for my mum full time,. We tried puzzles jigsaws and magazines which my mum soon got bored of. One thing she still enjoys now though is listening to audio books that I get her from the library, it relaxes her as well as letting her imagination run free and she always remembers the stories and she enjoys telling them back to me. Hope this helps. Sian. xx