I continue to discover so many similarities between parenting young kids and caring for a senior with dementia.
Mom loves to read the words that scroll across the bottom of the television (since she is hard of hearing, we put the captions on for her). I gotta tell you though, it’s thoroughly maddening that she reads them out loud. It’s like hearing the tv in stereo, only she is a slow reader, so she is 2-3 seconds behind whatever is being said. Makes it crazy to watch tv with her. When I asked her if she could read the words silently to herself, she said if she reads them out loud, they make more sense to her. I certainly can’t argue with that. Recently she has begun reading signs out loud as we are driving in the car. The names of stores, the names of streets, etc.
When Lian was little and we were shopping, I always gave her the ‘opportunity’ to practice her math skills. At the register I would ask her “Our bill is $18.36, and I gave the cashier a $20, how much change will I get?” And I wouldn’t let the cashier say it out loud or give us our change, before Lian had a chance to compute the answer, which usually took a bit. I’m sure the people behind us in line appreciated my great parenting technique! We live in an area close to many stores and fast food restaurants, so when we were in the car, she practiced reading: TACO BELL. BEST BUY. WALLMART. Only she pronounced that last one phonetically, as that’s how her brain works. It was the WALL-STAR-MART, per the sign:
Nate came to us at age 7 not speaking a word of English, so we needed to fast-track his language skills for school. At one point he was able to read the signs as Lian did. TACO BELL. DRUG MART. We live by a storage unit, called Mini-Maxi Storage. One day Lian was reading a book in the back seat, and Nate was reading signs, and in his broken English said “MINI MAX. Mom, what is it Mini Max?” Without skipping a beat or looking up from her book, Lian, in her low monotone voice declared “It’s those things mom glues in her underwear every morning!” So Nate says “Mom, what do you glue in your underwear every morning??” I seriously couldn’t make this stuff up!
So on this dreary rainy day, as we were running errands and mom was reading the signs, I had a sweet memory of the same event – a learning opportunity for both my kids and my mom, in different ways on opposite ends of the life span.
“The best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.” – Andy Rooney
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