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Visiting Nursing Homes with Children |
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Written by Christine Lever
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Friday, 16 February 2007 |
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Page 1 of 3
If your relative is in long-term care you
might want to bring your children to visit with them. Think back to when you were a child and how
boring it could be visiting your older relatives. To counter the boredom factor, bring a supply
of books, puzzles, games, Gameboy, etc for your child to play with.
Below is a quick list of tips to keep in
mind when taking a child into a nursing home:
- Before you bring a child into a nursing home, you will need to
prepare the child. Old people can
be scary for young children. The
child might be used to your relative but seeing other elderly people who
might want to touch them or who might be acting strangely in the child’s
eyes can be quite frightening. Tell
them, without alarming them, what they can expect to see. Tell them in a very matter-of-fact voice
what they might see.
- Once you’re in the nursing home, introduce your child to the
other seniors and give both prompts so that they can have a conversation:
This is Harry,
he shares a room with Poppa. Harry loves
to watch hockey games and he supports the Leafs.
Harry, this is my son, Peter, and he plays hockey. He’s a goalie.
Now they have
something in common to bridge that generation gap. Your son may not be too interested in
speaking with Harry so don’t force it.
Visiting a nursing home with children is all about building a comfort
level for the child.
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