Visiting the Nursing Home
Today I took Matthew trick-or-treating to a nursing home with our Moms Club. We visited both the assisted living building and the alzheimers building.
If you have never taken your children on a visit to a nursing home, I urge you to do it. It is amazing.
When I was young, I remember visiting my Granny in the nursing home. It was always a scary place for me. A pre-teen doesn't really know how to understand what is going on. And Granny had a lot of problems that I couldn't understand either. (Today she probably would have been diagnosed with Alzheimers and Parkinsons.) I didn't like going. And of course back in the 1970's, nursing homes were much different places than they are now.
Todays nursing homes are beautiful. They are meant to be comfortable, happy places. In many respects, they remind me of a hotel. Not at all institutional looking any more. And definitely not scary.
The residents of the home totally lit up every time a child approached. Even though my little Matthew really is not old enough to trick-or-treat, they insisted on giving him candy. Lots of candy. They talked to him, patted him, shook his hand, and just oogled at the cute little boy.
Matthew really took to one woman. He grabbed on to her hand and did not want to let go. And you know what? She didn't want him to let go. It really was beautiful. I asked her if I could take a picture. She said yes! Unfortunately it's a little blurry, but I wanted to share it nonetheless.
I'm going to encourage our Moms Club to do more outings to the nursing home. I think it is so good for the boys to be around older folks. There is so much to learn from them. And so much love to be shared.
If you have never taken your children on a visit to a nursing home, I urge you to do it. It is amazing.
When I was young, I remember visiting my Granny in the nursing home. It was always a scary place for me. A pre-teen doesn't really know how to understand what is going on. And Granny had a lot of problems that I couldn't understand either. (Today she probably would have been diagnosed with Alzheimers and Parkinsons.) I didn't like going. And of course back in the 1970's, nursing homes were much different places than they are now.
Todays nursing homes are beautiful. They are meant to be comfortable, happy places. In many respects, they remind me of a hotel. Not at all institutional looking any more. And definitely not scary.
The residents of the home totally lit up every time a child approached. Even though my little Matthew really is not old enough to trick-or-treat, they insisted on giving him candy. Lots of candy. They talked to him, patted him, shook his hand, and just oogled at the cute little boy.
Matthew really took to one woman. He grabbed on to her hand and did not want to let go. And you know what? She didn't want him to let go. It really was beautiful. I asked her if I could take a picture. She said yes! Unfortunately it's a little blurry, but I wanted to share it nonetheless.I'm going to encourage our Moms Club to do more outings to the nursing home. I think it is so good for the boys to be around older folks. There is so much to learn from them. And so much love to be shared.
posted by Susan | 10:53 AM
2 Comments:
That is a win-win right there! Great for the kids, great for the elderly aldults.
Lisa
I'm glad you did this for the kids and the adults -- good for you!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home