Useful ideas ! But I have a MIL who finds only talking interesting . Talking mostly inane nonsense . This drives me up the wall as I like quiet house . So how do I keep her feeling like she has a purpose and is useful

You can look on Etsy (an online marketplace for handmade items) for Fidget Quilts. They are very helpful for keeping loved ones busy and they are great conversation starters too!

FF, if you do a web search on fidget aprons you will find all kinds of links, there are pictures and patterns if you are handy and shops if you are not. They also have blankets, muffs and other fidgets as well as tool boxes and collections to sort.

Thanks so much for the tips. Sometimes the smallest thing can be a great help.

Marlis, very timely article, thank you :)

I noticed that my Mom, who went into accelerated dementia after a bad fall, now bedridden, is always fussing with her clothes, tugging at her pant legs, and unbuttoning or unzipping her top... oops, sorry Mom you can't do that, as she is now in a facility.

The fidget apron sounds good, I will look around and see if such a thing exist [since it was part of a story you read] and that might help my Mom on those days where she is agitated.

I find it very interesting. My mother suffered from alzheimer's for many, many, years,
unfortuentely /or not, she had always maintained a healthy life style, she was 99
before she passed. I learned early on early if she thought something was real
then I did too, like kitten's in the apple trees eating apples.

I am now 85 & so far so good

Dorothy

My aunt would constantly fidget with clothing and act like she was trying to fold things, so I made her a quilted cloth with buttons, a zipper and ties that could be undone easily to keep her occupied.

I wish this was posted a few years ago it would have helped me with my Mom. I lost her in January but she had a long life an I had her many years she was 97 when she passed. I still received these emails in hope to continue learning how to cope with ageing as I am pushing my golden years

I wonder patients with advanced dementia would enjoy those cloth books that are sold for toddlers with buttons, zippers, laces, etc. or would they seen the books as infantile… when mom could no longer remember how to play Scrabble, or canasta, we resorted to go fish and another alphabet tile game (larger tiles, simple rules) as well as a homemade version of Concentration. I almost got the feeling mom thought she was humoring me by playing go fish.

My mother loved hearing about the many different dishes she whipped up in the kitchen when we were growing up. She did not remember but it would make her smile.This was lovely. Thanks for posting.