Celebrating Christmas with Your Senior
Christmas festivities are here, a time your room fills with lights, mistletoes and laughter with family gathered around.
Whether you’re hosting Christmas at your house or at someone else’s, you would want everyone to be involved in the celebration, including your loved seniors. However, it may worry you that your older adult with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia may get overstimulated or agitated.
We present to you 6 tips to help you modify and adapt holiday activities for seniors with dementia so they would feel comfortable during the time with you and your loved ones.
Tip #1: Keep your groups small.
A person with dementia or Alzheimer’s can easily be agitated in a room filled with stimulations, such as people, noise and commotion of activities.
Therefore, make changes that will help your senior feel calm and stay away from overstimulation. For instance, instead of hosting a big party for all family members, you can plan small get-togethers spread across December. You can also consider limiting the guest list to immediate family only.
Tip #2: Fit the schedule to your senior
If you are the primary caregiver of your senior, you would know what times of day your older adult is at their best. So, try scheduling the most meaningful Christmas activity at times when your older adult would most likely participate successfully.
Tip #3: Arrange a private, quiet space
No matter how careful everyone is, when there are many people in one space, the senior can easily be overstimulated by many sensory cues.
To avoid agitating your older adult, set aside a quiet room away from the noise. This way, the senior will take some time and space to relax and recharge before initiating contact with others again. Also, you can use this space for individual family members to have one-on-one visits and spend quality time with the senior.
Tip #4: Include activities your senior will enjoy
Make your older adult feel included by planning activities that they already enjoy. However simple it is, have everyone participate and share the time together with your senior.
Some ideas you could consider are:
- A group cookie baking session
- Looking through family album together
- Watching the senior’s favourite sports game
- A family sing-along or dance offs to the senior’s favourite tunes
Tip #5: Limit foods that differ from usual diet
It is important to know that many older adults have sensitive digestive systems. So, however delicious and tempting holiday meals are, it would be wise to avoid foods that are too different from their ordinary diet.
Tip #6: Encourage children to spend time with seniors
Christmas holiday is a perfect opportunity for children and older adults to spend time and interact with each other.
Before the encounter though, make sure to talk with children about Alzheimer’s or dementia. This will help the kids understand your senior and prevent confusion when faced with odd behaviours or angry outbursts.
During the encounter, have an adult watch the interaction in case the senior acts unexpectedly or the kid triggers agitation.
But most importantly, make sure to take a break yourself! Do what helps you relax, de-stress and recharge your battery. Ask for help when you feel exhausted. And after your well-deserved break, you’ll be able to better help your senior and spend the best Christmas possible.
Do you need extra support? Living Waters Aged Care is here to help. We provide personalised care plans that best suit your senior’s needs and well-being.
If you would like to find more about our services, contact us today.
