Have a loved one in your family who is living with dementia and want to give them something meaningful for Christmas? Read on…

1. Your time. Give them the gift of your time, to simply sit with them, let them share a favorite story from their life, and be well together.
2. About that story of theirs….100% of our friends with dementia derive joy and happiness by being able to share a story from their past, often from their youth or young adulthood. Sit with them, and tell them you’d love to hear that story about “That fishing trip to Canada, or the time that old Aunt Sally played that softball game with all the boys, or the moment you first saw that girl you love, etc.”. Then listen well, and “be there” with them in their memories.
3. Get some education. Take a class about doing dementia right. Read a book. Join a support group. We recommend and are highly trained in the DAWN method: https://thedawnmethod.com/. We also recommend classes offered through Dementia Friendly Communities of Northern Colorado, with whom we teach Family Care Partner classes: https://dementiafriendlycommunitiesnoco.org/. You won’t regret learning how to do dementia right.
4. Offer them the gift of your love, which in the case of dementia looks like not correcting, not contradicting, and valuing them for who they truly are as a person, even with dementia in the picture. Be humble; choose to be kind over being right.
5. Ask your family and friends for help; be honest about areas where you could recruit help, then ask. People are far more happy to help than we think, and if you’re like most Care Partners we know, you could use the support and the break.

Our friends with dementia are facing changes that cannot be predicted nor controlled. But what we can control is how those of us on their team respond and how we create an environment that tends to their security and well-being. Those, then, are the greatest gifts we can offer. The amazing thing is that when we do dementia well, we, too, receive gifts in the process. Stay tuned for more about loving well those living with dementia.