Spending time with my grandmother, A-ma, in her middle-late stages of Alzheimer’s has been meaningful and fun, and it is something that I have been extremely blessed to experience in my teen years. One thing that my younger brother, Luke, A-ma and I all have in common is that we like to stay active! Luke, and I often asked each other, “What can we all do together?” Since A-ma lived with us, we knew her routines everyday from sunrise to dusk. We took our cues from A-ma with dementia: What does she like to do? What is she able to do? What is she in the mood for today? What does she usually like to eat? Since Luke was also a toddler, I also always considered their safety before starting an activity with them or preparing snacks and meals for them.
It doesn’t matter if the activity needs to be done to completion or if it is done well. We observed that activities that seem like tasks or chores — setting the table, wiping the table after dinner, getting paper towels for the kitchen, or toilet paper for the bathroom— brought a comforting sense of familiarity and routine for A-ma.
We wanted to share our list of activities to do with A-ma and hopefully, it will encourage you to have hope and joy when living with a relative with Alzheimer’s or dementia!
Youth For Public Health 