Mother wants to be called to dinner. Is this normal behavior for dementia patients?
Every time I fix supper and am putting the food on the table. My mother goes to her room and sits on her bed to be called to come eat. We have never been formal in my home or when I was growing up. it's driving me insane.
Sounds like it is just one of those things that households go through with or without dementia.
Like my sig other will come in the door from work, he sees that I am getting the meal on the table, he will go upstairs and change clothes.... then instead of sitting down to have dinner, he will go through a stack of mail address to him... good grief, those same envelops will be there after dinner, they aren't going to vanish, ... [rolling eyes].
Invite her to sit at the table while you are finishing dinner prep, give her something to drink or an hors d'ouvre (snack). My Dh does this, but when he is called, he disappears into the bathroom then to wash up, does other things instead of coming to eat. It is just the two of us, so I am mostly eating alone. Christmas eve was no different. I cannot change him. It is getting worse. All I can do is make it inviting to join me, wherever we are eating that meal. If it happens to be in front of the t.v., I turn on his tech show. To me, it's sad.
Yes I have asked her and she just says I don't know. It's at every meal., it's even happened when I put her plate down in front of her . I asked where she was going and she said to her room to wait for dinner, she watched me put her plate in front of her. Sometimes I wonder if the got the diagnosis of dementia was wrong. I have begun to think it's intentional.
Who knows, she could be trying to help you by keeping out of your way, or she could be harking back to her childhood, perhaps her mother banished her to her room to keep her from being underfoot. Try to shrug it off, as weird behaviours go this is a pretty benign one, but I know how those little things can get under your skin!
If there has been conflict in the kitchen recently, she may be wanting to avoid conflict and confrontation. She may also be pouting if it is her kitchen; women tend to be very territorial about their kitchens.
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Like my sig other will come in the door from work, he sees that I am getting the meal on the table, he will go upstairs and change clothes.... then instead of sitting down to have dinner, he will go through a stack of mail address to him... good grief, those same envelops will be there after dinner, they aren't going to vanish, ... [rolling eyes].
My Dh does this, but when he is called, he disappears into the bathroom then to wash up, does other things instead of coming to eat. It is just the two of us, so I am mostly eating alone. Christmas eve was no different. I cannot change him.
It is getting worse.
All I can do is make it inviting to join me, wherever we are eating that meal. If it happens to be in front of the t.v., I turn on his tech show. To me, it's sad.
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