Hi,
My first time ever posting on any forum but I wanted to share my experience in case it allows other families with a grandparent with dementia to connect to their grandchildren. My father in law had dementia when my first daughter was born 3 years ago but at that point could still talk occasionally by the time my second daughter arrived he couldn't talk at all.
I really wanted the girls to connect with Bob my father in law so from a very early age perhaps around 6 months I started to use my babies foot to pretend that Grandad Bob was calling us to talk to us and whenever he phoned he would always be doing something fun like eating biscuits in bed or rescuing a frog from his toilet. We would probably do this at least once a week and as well as receiving calls on the "foot a phone" we would also make outgoing calls and dial the telephone numbers and speak to Bob. (All make believe of course) As my baby turned into a toddler she would start to raise her foot up when lying on the bed or sofa and say mummy Grandad Bob is on the phone and then we would chat and I would say he was asking her questions about what she was doing etc and then make more funny stories of what he had done.
As a result of these constant phone calls my 21 month old Is still talking about Grandad Bob 3 months after his death and often says he is on the phone and therefore she was able to make a connection with him even though he couldn't talk.My 3 year old used to ask me why he could talk on the phone but not when we went to visit and I said that he was shy and had a special way of talking to mummy on the foot a phone.
We now still speak to him but these days when he calls he is in the sky cloud jumping but I didn't know if this tip or something similar may reassure anyone else with parents who have dementia and have young families that connections can be made even if they can't talk and don't appear to know their grandchildren but you just have to be a more imaginative than standard conversation.xxxx
My first time ever posting on any forum but I wanted to share my experience in case it allows other families with a grandparent with dementia to connect to their grandchildren. My father in law had dementia when my first daughter was born 3 years ago but at that point could still talk occasionally by the time my second daughter arrived he couldn't talk at all.
I really wanted the girls to connect with Bob my father in law so from a very early age perhaps around 6 months I started to use my babies foot to pretend that Grandad Bob was calling us to talk to us and whenever he phoned he would always be doing something fun like eating biscuits in bed or rescuing a frog from his toilet. We would probably do this at least once a week and as well as receiving calls on the "foot a phone" we would also make outgoing calls and dial the telephone numbers and speak to Bob. (All make believe of course) As my baby turned into a toddler she would start to raise her foot up when lying on the bed or sofa and say mummy Grandad Bob is on the phone and then we would chat and I would say he was asking her questions about what she was doing etc and then make more funny stories of what he had done.
As a result of these constant phone calls my 21 month old Is still talking about Grandad Bob 3 months after his death and often says he is on the phone and therefore she was able to make a connection with him even though he couldn't talk.My 3 year old used to ask me why he could talk on the phone but not when we went to visit and I said that he was shy and had a special way of talking to mummy on the foot a phone.
We now still speak to him but these days when he calls he is in the sky cloud jumping but I didn't know if this tip or something similar may reassure anyone else with parents who have dementia and have young families that connections can be made even if they can't talk and don't appear to know their grandchildren but you just have to be a more imaginative than standard conversation.xxxx
