Listening to the radio recently, Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ came on. These two lines really stood out for me: “Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.” They got me thinking, as I so often do…
Intergenerational lessons from the (home education) classroom
I’m probably going to put myself into a very small group of parents with my opening comment for this blog, but I’m so glad I’ve had the chance to home school our daughter. Whilst I know many parents have struggled…
Five things I’m glad we bought my dad
A question I’m often asked is what would I recommend buying a person with dementia? This has become even more pertinent with so many family members unable to see relatives with dementia during the pandemic, and looking for ideas of…
Resolve to not put off until tomorrow what you can do today
As we come to the end of a year that I’m sure no one expected to turn out the way it has, most of us are probably feeling that our coping skills have been sorely tested. The exponential rise of…
When eating just isn’t happening
One of the topics I haven’t covered in depth on this blog is refusal to eat. So many of my blog posts are inspired by our experiences with my dad, and one thing he never did was refuse to eat,…
Knowledge is power
One of the loveliest parts of my work is being able to help people by sharing our experiences as a family, augmented by what I have learnt from my campaigning and consultancy in the 8+ years since my dad died.…
Demanding better for people with dementia
Ordinarily, September is dominated for me by World Alzheimer’s Month (or World Dementia Month as I prefer to call it), which in practice means 30 days of sharing all of the great content, ideas and initiatives that lots of fantastic…
A shrinking world
For the last five months I’ve written about different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. For August, I want to think about the consequences of the required reduction in social interaction on people with dementia during lockdown. Is it all…
‘Old’ normal, ‘new’ normal or time to make a ‘better’ normal?
For the last four months I’ve written about different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. For July, I want to think about life post-lockdown and pose these questions: What do we REALLY want ‘normal’ life to look like now? Is a…
Family carers and the coronavirus pandemic
For the last three months I’ve written about different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. For June, I want to think about how family carers have been affected by lockdown and the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The pandemic has raised so many…
Living with dementia – It’s not postponed!
For the last two months I’ve written about the coronavirus pandemic. I want to continue with this theme since it is at the forefront of all of our minds, but also with a little nod to the significance of this month…
Coronavirus and being isolated from a loved one
Last month I wrote about the coronavirus pandemic and answered two questions families supporting a loved one are grappling with: How do we hand-wash more and how do we self-isolate? For families who aren’t in the same household, however, they…
Coronavirus and living with dementia – Coping in unprecedented times
It’s not easy to know where to begin with a blog on the current monumentally uncertain times that the world is facing, but I’m going to attempt to address the coronavirus disaster (I don’t think the word crisis goes far…
