The month of June has provided inspiration for activities with candy and cookies, flags and festivities, and summer and the seasons. Lady-Links visits are designed to be enjoyable for our friend with Alzheimer’s mid-stage dementia and the special occasion days in June were a great source for ideas. We plan activities to keep her engaged while helping to preserve her skills, and we encourage her through positive feedback. We do this by by starting with refreshments and then transitioning to appropriate activities.
Promoting communication and friendship over coffee.
Did you know that June was National Candy Month? That was great news to me since I know how much our friend loves chocolate and using chocolate candy would catch her attention. We decided to prepare bags of assorted candy (mainly chocolates) decorated with an appropriate sticker identifying this special occasion and to give them away to staff who work in our retirement community. This would give our friend the opportunity to sort and classify the candy and arrange it in the baggies and peel and place the sticker on each one. She would have plenty of opportunity for social interaction as she distributed the candy.
She enjoyed the activity and participated somewhat in the process of filling the baggies and adding the sticker. She had fun hiding some of the candy and tasting ones that were her favorite. She was able to contribute occasionally to the conversation regarding what candy we liked to eat when we were children and what special places we would go to get candy (the movies, grandma’s house, the candy store to spend some of our allowance, etc.) We always have a discussion relating to any activity that we’re doing and our friend benefits from the positive environment that such sharing brings, even though she might forget what was actually said.
We filled 30 bags and will distribute them when our friend is ready to go for a walk around our community. We had hoped to distribute them the day that we filled the baggies, but our friend preferred to stay in her home and continue our visit there. Our plans are always flexible and we encourage her to try new activities, but if she is hesitant we transition to an activity that she prefers at the moment. We know that she will eagerly participate in the candy distribution at another visit when the timing is right for her.
The rest of the month will be filled with activities associated with Flag Day, the Summer Solstice (do you know how it’s determined), and preparing for the Fourth of July. Our visits are always designed to meet the needs of our friend and the love and laughter come naturally as we enrich her life and ours too!
How are you celebrating June with your friends?
If I had read this last week I would have known that it was National Candy Month!! Luckily I got to it in time to celebrate, though!
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