Did Your School Have a Senior Trip?
10 years ago
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Activities for home bound seniors...give me your ideas!
Comments (35)I replied in an earlier thread, but after hearing all your replies I was able to relate because not only did I experience firsthand your problems, but also caregivers constantly visited my senior center office looking for advice and services. So here we go: 1. The most difficult time in your life is the transition from being a child to becoming the parent. It's very difficult and heartbreaking. 2. As people get older they become less interested in activities they once enjoyed because they're just plain tired. As memory fades, they'll talk about the past. Don't fight it. My brother had Alzheimer's, and every time we visited he told us he had just come back from cutting firewood in the woods. Rather than correct him, we continued his conversation about this and he was quite pleased. Get a recorder, as mentioned above, and get as much family history as you can while the person still recalls more vividly past events. Be more accepting of their declining limits. If they just want to sit there and watch TV, let them. Try some simple chair exercises. One that helps keep legs strong is quite simple. Just sit in a chair and lift each leg. This builds the upper front thigh muscle and is one of the first exercises they have you do in physical therapy after a lengthy bedridden stay in a hospital. Also, most senior centers office similar programs just to keep people moving. Be nice to yourself. Take a break. Hire an older person who could more easily relate and also "babysit" for you so you can go out and have a few hours to yourself. If you don't, you will come to resent your caregiving. Also, there are people who would be willing to stay overnight to give you an entire weekend of freedom. Do it! And lastly, don't feel guilty if you're nice to yourself or occasionally lose patience. You're only human. Consider a day or two per week in an Adult Day Care program. Simply being among their peers can do wonders. I've seem an amazing difference in seniors who have participated in this. However, you may have to bring the person screaming and hollering at first, but very quickly they will begin to enjoy themselves. My last suggestion comes from a study I read years ago. Nursing home residents were asked what they would like to do. While activities directors thought they wanted loads of activities, when asked, the residents replied they really wanted to get out of the home for a few hours and take a short ride. We once had a program at our senior center where a local restaurant that offered a soup and sandwich type of lunch donated a number of gift certificates. We would choose an elder along with a volunteer, and they would go out to lunch. Most people really enjoyed this. However, you must keep the outing to no more than a few hours due to fatigue. Hope some of this helps, for I've been there, done that; and I have a special spot in my heart for the caregivers who look after others. It isn't easy....See MoreEvery able-bodied (able-minded?) senior should have ...
Comments (19)My son, the smartest of us three "boys", who wanted no more schooling after H.S., just retired from farming. His son is a teacher, into music, has made his own CD. Brother won't have anything to do with a computer. Actually - if I were going to write him the stuff we talk about in a 20 min. conversation on the phone - it'd take a week. And no instant feed-back. Though I send and receive emails (as far as receiving - like thousands in a month!) I don't do banking online. No one gets my credit card number online, either. Nor do I buy and sell stocks online - (actually, I hardly ever sell 'em). Actually - don't write a lot of cheques, either - giving them to strangers is a risky business, as well. Most of my business is small - and local - so I do it in cash. Haven't got held up, yet. Actually, sometimes I've hitchhiked substantial distances, in which case I have usually distributed some cash in about half a dozen locations on my body - including under an unnecessary bandage on my arm. Lived for several years in south Korea just after that devastating war when there were many desparate people around. Actually, last Saturday was the 55th anniversary of the start of that horrible war. War is hell - as the U.S. will continue to learn for a few years in Iraq. Have a great week - and summer, all. ole joyful...See MoreYour high school wishes for your future....
Comments (19)I recall that in my high school yearbook, under my photo, it listed my ambition and words I live by. The words I try to live by are the same now as they were then....He who is not actively kind, is cruel. by John Ruskin. My ambition was: to be happy. Kind of simplistic, but I am a simple person and I really do believe being happy is something we choose for ourselves, and even though I have had a lot of ups and downs in my life, I can truthfully say that I am very happy. Anyway, that is what I had posted in my yearbook, but as for my life's work....I hate to say that I didn't give it much thought. I wanted to raise horses. I did that. Wish I hadn't. I never wanted to get married and had no plans to have children. I did get married very early on, mainly because my mother wanted me to. She believed I should get married and believed a man should support me. So I got married and I played, and my husband supported me. I didn't have a baby until I was in my mid 30's and I have no regrets about waiting. I only think it made me (not speaking for anyone but myself, so don't jump on me) a better mother. In some ways, having a baby late, was sort of like having a baby and a grandbaby at the same time. I was more settled and secure in myself. I ended up taking care of my mother, who had dementia, until she died in her 90's and then I took care of an elderly former neighbor and friend for 8 years, until he died. I promised him I would, so he wouldn't have to go in a nursing home. I rehabbed wildlife...mainly because I felt sorry for the orphans, and I am good at raising babies of all kinds. (Despite not wanting children...I am extremely maternal.) Now I do anything I want to do. I have no grandchildren. My daughter is secure...doesn't need my help. I wanted a mule. I bought a green broke mule. I need to get used to riding again...so I bought a horse. I plan to raise a mule foal. I plan to start riding again and ride every day for the rest of my life...if at all possible. Gee....I think I forgot the question. I'm sorry. I am happy though....See MoreDid You Have to Gather Leaves For School?
Comments (16)Like terilyn, we had to do both a bug collection and a leaf collection as different graded projects for biology class. Rather than wax paper, I think I used clear contact paper to adhere the leaves to the pages of the project. I also think I had about twice the number of leaves necessary for an "A". For the bug collection I had extra bees, wasps and hornets, so a classmate who had a extra dragonfly offered to swap a dragonfly for a couple of bees. I reminded him that the teacher had specifically listed dragonflies (and praying mantises IIRC) as beneficial insects that shouldn't be killed for the project. He responded that he found the dragonflies already dead. I made the swap and transferred his pinned dragonfly to my wax-filled cigar box. A few hours later I heard an odd buzzing noise coming from my box, and opened it to find that the "already dead" dragonfly had recovered and was trying desperately to free itself. I was horrified....See More- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years agoMarilyn Sue thanked ravencajun Zone 8b TX
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