Let’s imagine you’re going to visit your mother who hasAlzheimer’sand lives in anursing home, or your brother who’s at home with his wife but is quite confused and forgetful. Are you wondering how to pass the time there, or what you should say? Have you been holding off on visiting because you don’t know what to talk about? While not all of these strategies will be effective, here are some conversation starters andactivitiesyou can try during your visit.
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Remember When?
Address Book, Social Directory, or School Yearbook
Find an old address book, church directory or school yearbook and go through the book together. Those names might trigger various memories for your loved one that she’ll enjoytalkingabout with you.
Photo Albums
Bring pictures that you can go through together. You may be surprised at how good his memory is for names and details of older photos.
Recipe Box or Book
Find your mother’s old, often-used recipes and bring them along on a visit.Reminisce togetherabout her favorite ones to cook, as well as which ones made the family cringe when she made them. You could even make one of her favorites and bring some to her to enjoy if her diet constraints allow.
Tell Me About When You First Fell in Love
Ask her to recall when she first met the person and fell in love, and what she liked most about him.
Read Together
Bring her favorite classic literature book or a book on faith that is meaningful to her. Read through familiar passages together.
Bring Items of Interest
Bring Your Pet If Your Loved One Is an Animal Lover
If your mother loves cats, bring yours to visit her. Thebenefits of pet therapyare well-established so take the opportunity to encourage her in this way.Of course, if your loved one resides in a facility, be sure to check with them to learn what guidelines are in place for animal therapy.
1 SourceVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Peluso S, De Rosa A, De Lucia N, et al.Animal-assisted therapy in elderly patients: evidence and controversies in dementia and psychiatric disorders and future perspectives in other neurological diseases.J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2018;31(3):149-157. doi:10.1177/0891988718774634
1 Source
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Peluso S, De Rosa A, De Lucia N, et al.Animal-assisted therapy in elderly patients: evidence and controversies in dementia and psychiatric disorders and future perspectives in other neurological diseases.J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2018;31(3):149-157. doi:10.1177/0891988718774634
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Peluso S, De Rosa A, De Lucia N, et al.Animal-assisted therapy in elderly patients: evidence and controversies in dementia and psychiatric disorders and future perspectives in other neurological diseases.J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2018;31(3):149-157. doi:10.1177/0891988718774634
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