Memorial Day Weekend 2015--Meaningful Connections with Elders and Aging Parents

Memorial Day Weekend 2015...

...Is there a better time to have meaningful conversations with the older--and the oldest--people in our lives?

The commonality of experience, hardship, and sacrifice for country, is shared by countless families over countless years. Some memories lie deep within our elders--aging parents and grandparents and no doubt people who never married. Some memories may still haunt; some may never be spoken of. We know this from movies and books we've read, if we haven't experienced it in our own families.

Never-the-less there's a positive for those of us with aging friends and family members as well as those for whom we're caregivers--if these elders like to talk about the past. It's the opportunity to ask them meaningful questions that convey genuine interest ...

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Memorial Day 2015: Elders, Aging Parents and Grandparents and The World War II Memorial

Our Elders, Aging Parents and Grandparents: Journalist Tom Brokaw highlighted their specialness, coining the expression "The Greatest Generation" for his popular book about them. On May 19, 2015 countless aging parents and grandparents (and I) visited the World War II Memorial to pay tribute and to remember.

Part of the National Park Service, the World War II Memorial definitely does not glorify war. It does glorify the deep-seated values of our elders and a time in the history of the United States that affected each and every person. 

And we--or at least I--find most old people don't hesitate to talk about the WWII war years. In fact reminiscing seems to be a popular pastime with the elderly in spite of all the adversities they've experienced. (Depression and war to name two.) 

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Help! Aging Parents: Best Alzheimer's Blogs of 2015 Honor

 Help! Aging Parents voted “One of the 20 Best Alzheimer’s Blogs of the Year”

Yesterday we took Amtrak to the Washington, DC area. Just before leaving I learned that, for the second year in a row, Healthline honors our blog as one of its 20 top Alzheimer’s blogs of 2015. 

Help! Aging Parents’ inclusion on this year’s “Best” list has special meaning for two reasons:

 First, it’s the only blog on the list that doesn’t have Alzheimer’s or dementia as a major focus.

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Aging Parents and Memory: The Questionable Impact of Brain Games on Memory. Latest Research

At a certain age I think it's safe to say everyone--aging parents and us-- thinks about memory loss. Many boomers and seniors play bridge, learn a new language, and train their brains using innovative technology, hoping to stave off memory loss.

But the effectiveness of brain-training technology seems to be questionable in real life, according to AARP's 4/14/ 15 Brain Health Blog, "Major Report Shows What Works and What Doesn't for Better Brain Health," written by Elizabeth Agnvall. It's based upon an April 2015-released Institute of Medicine of the National Academies report, COGNITIVE AGING--Progress in Understanding and Opportunities for Action co-sponsored by AARP, the National Institute on Aging, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other government and nonprofit organizations.
                   Visit my other site for this report's findings re: what
                   helps prevent, hurts, and doesn't help memory loss.

AGING, OLDER, SENIOR MOTHER'S DAY GIFT SURVEY SHOWS HALF MAY NOT GET THEIR MOTHER'S DAY WISH THIS YEAR

Note: This shouldn't be a surprise to our readers. Three years ago we posted: Aging Parents: The Mother's Day Gift Mothers and Grandmother's Value Most. Over and over we heard "time with children and family" as the answer to the objective Mother's Day gift question we asked.

While admittedly our sample was very small as I wrote in that post, if you click the preceding link you might find the responses "hit home." While the survey below's sample of 155 is also small, it includes the value (or not) of technology. I spoke with the person responsible for sending me this information and think it fits nicely with what I've experienced, especially opening the e-card. Thus--

                  Survey Shows Half of Senior Moms May Not Get
                            Their Mother’s Day Wish This Year

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Aging Parents: 10 Last-Minute Mother's Day Gifts that Get Used Up--no Clutter!

Spending time with family--children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren--is what most older mothers want for Mother's Day. Being taken out for Mother's Day dinner with them adds to the pleasure.

What they don't appreciate are gifts that become clutter--
--that they really don't need or want
--that give them "problems" if they're old because they need to figure out where to put them--
--where to store them,
--how not to hurt the giver's feelings, and
--how to get rid of them.


           10 Mother's Day Gifts--that don't last forever and are
        thoughtful, eye-appealing, delicious, indulgent, pampering, 
                                         practical, exciting

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