Things for mum to do when alone

[jacquie107]

Hi I care for my mum and along with other family members we do spend a lot af time with her. She lives in an assisted living facility and does have carers going in 4 times a day. But she is unable to entertain herself when she is alone she does have bursts of energy when she will clean her flat but most days she doesn’t have that much energy. She spends a lot of time in bed I think a lot of this is due to boredom. She is partially sighted and cannot change the tv channel she doesn’t like new things so won’t listen to talking books. Any ideas about what she can do to pass the time when she is alone

 

[karaokePete]

Hello and welcome @jacquie107

It can be hard to keep a person with dementia entertained as they lose more of their cognitive ability. I sometimes have the same struggle with my wife.

There is a Society booklet that contains a lot of hints on outdoor and indoor activities and if you would like to read that just click the 2nd line of the following link

• The activities handbook (77AC)
  • PDF printable version
• I'm sure others will be along with suggestions over the next day or so.

 

[Knitandpurl]

My husband is also partially sighted( part of the dementia). And has problems with TV etc and won’t listen to talking books. I have. ‘simple’ ‘One For All’ remote that helps with tv, but even with coloured stickers and raised buttons he struggles. You might find an ‘Alexa’ , Google nest or ‘SIRi’, helps. It took him awhile and he still sometimes mucks the voice instructions up, but he can, and does talk to her. Asks her the time, to play his music , the weather, tell him a joke and best of all play the radio. They don’t cost a lot, and they ‘learn’, so get better st dealing with instructions that aren’t quite right e.g. music and the radio mean different things to Alexa. If they are set up they can also make phone calls turn on the tv change channels etc. They don’t cost a lot and if like me you aren’t ‘tech’ savvy you can ask a younger member of the family to do it. Best of luck

 

[MartinWL]

Hi I care for my mum and along with other family members we do spend a lot af time with her. She lives in an assisted living facility and does have carers going in 4 times a day. But she is unable to entertain herself when she is alone she does have bursts of energy when she will clean her flat but most days she doesn’t have that much energy. She spends a lot of time in bed I think a lot of this is due to boredom. She is partially sighted and cannot change the tv channel she doesn’t like new things so won’t listen to talking books. Any ideas about what she can do to pass the time when she is alone

The wireless aka the radio sounds good to me. You could have several of them, of different shapes, tuned to her favourite stations, so that she could choose e.g Radio 4, Talk Radio, Times Radio. The Light programme aka Radio 2, Classic FM etc according to her preferences without having to retune or press buttons.