When caregiving for parents, your own children may be at the age when they might not understand why Grandma or Grandpa doesn’t remember them. Explaining dementia and other aging-related illness may be a challenge as they cope with watching their grandparents change.

“Aging creates a lot of change for seniors, affecting the way they remember, think and feel. Each situation is different for every family, so it’s important as a parent yourself to sit down and discuss the changes taking place with your children,” says Great Care Founder and CEO Julie Sullivan.

Many organizations related to aging and diseases including Alzheimer’s provide online resources to help kids and teens cope with their grandparents’ aging. The Alzheimer’s Association has a page on its website, located at http://www.alz.org/living_with_alzheimers_just_for_kids_and_teens.asp, featuring resources to help children learn about Alzheimer’s disease and understand how it affects them. The page includes videos, printouts and even an interactive Brain Tour that shows what happens in the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s disease.

The two-page “Just for Children: Helping You Understand Alzheimer’s Disease” and “Just for Teens: Helping You Understand Alzheimer’s Disease” fact sheets with puzzles and activities help kids understand what is happening to a person with Alzheimer’s disease and explores how challenging it is to be a caregiver.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA)’s website also offers online resources for teaching young children, teens and parents and adults who work with children about Alzheimer’s and dementia. The long list of resources includes fiction and nonfiction books, articles, websites, and other materials to help children and teenagers cope when a family member or friend has Alzheimer’s.

“When someone has Alzheimer’s disease, it affects everyone in the family, including children and grandchildren,” the NIA says. ”

For more information, visit https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/resources-children-and-teens-about-alzheimers-disease

Providing ongoing support to kids is key to helping them understand the changes going on with a grandparent or loved one’s, says Carol Bradley Bursack, Editor-in-Chief of ElderCarelink.com, an online resource for eldercare services.

“Children often suffer silently as they watch a grandparent with dementia decline. Their parents are busy and often frustrated and sad, so kids can feel that they would only add to their parents’ burden if they were to show their despair,” Bursack says.

She stresses the importance of open communication with youngsters to help them comfortably talk about confusion, grief, frustration and anger so they know that it’s okay to have those feelings.

“Just don’t present these in a way where the child feels he or she must ‘fix’ your problems,” she says. “Share your feelings. Tell your children that anything they feel is okay, and that it’s better for everyone if they talk about how they feel.

For more information and a link to Bursack’s article, visit http://www.eldercarelink.com/Other-Resources/Caregiving-Support/talking-to-the-grandchildren-about-dementia.htm.
The professionals at Great Care are available to talk with you and your family about all of your home care needs. Great Care is a non medical in-home care agency providing quality and affordable elder care in Fishers, IN and the surrounding areas. Call (317) 595-9933 for more information.