Letting LO help

MPTosa

Hello,

My mother has Alzheimer’s + probably vascular dementia. She was in a memory care facility, but we brought her home to live with my dad because of COVID. 

Every day when I am there she asks me for things she can do to help me. I understands she wants to have a purpose. She helped me shovel snow earlier this week and then got angry because I was doing a better job than she was. 

The one time I was able to get laundry done at her house (I normally have to take it home because I am not allowed to use her washer), she helped me fold the laundry. 

Any ideas of things she can do to “help me”? She won’t dust. She washes dishes but I have to secretly rewash them. 

I have suggested crafts she used to enjoy, like knitting, drawing, painting but she wants to be of more use. 

Thanks

abc123

-Straighten out the Tupperware.

-Straighten out the linen drawer/closet

-The towel closet.

-Clip coupons and organize them.

-Clean out a junk drawer.

-Wipe down the flatware with a soft cloth to remove spots.

-Organize the canned goods.

.

Suzy23

We have this issue also. My dad likes to be busy around the house but constantly creates problems in the attempt. My mom will ask him to wipe the kitchen table, but he will try to go another step, say look at where she keeps the rags and then decide to take everything out of that area and decide he needs to vacuum under the sink or whatever. Drags the vacuum over there. 

One of the few things he really likes and can do “busy work” wise right now is sorting coins.  The other is vacuuming, though he might do the same area of one rug for hours at a time and ignore right next to it. 

He is also OK with putting seed in the bird feeders. He used to also be OK with taking out the trash but that has become more problematic lately. And helping with the laundry is totally out except under 100% supervision. He has really caused problems there. It’s amazing what can go wrong with dementia in the picture. 

Once a year or so ago he was trying to clean the inside of a sliding glass door to the tub. He decided the best thing would be to remove the handlebar and he ended up trapping himself in there.