Knitting and other simple skills help patients with dementia feel valued

Thanks to Janet Hopkinson, a regular contributor to Kissing it Better, for send us these ideas.

She writes..

'My mother was an absolutely FANTASTIC dressmaker and could sew, knit or embroider just about anything. Sadly of course she can now no longer follow a pattern and I could see how frustrating this must have been for her. I am hopeless at anything like that but told her that I was going to knit squares to make into a blanket for children suffering from AIDS in a third world country (there really is a website that tells you all about this – albeit in the States!). So, now my Mum can often be found knitting away at her 8 inch squares which of course are not perfect but it really doesn’t matter. The fact that she knows they are going to a good cause gives her immense pleasure and rather than her now sitting and just staring out the window, we both sit and knit together – sometimes she will even finish off my squares!

Not sure that this really fits into your ‘kissing it better’ format, but it has been a REAL tonic to me and my Mum. We also bought some cheap wooden Xmas tree decorations from M&S and then spent many happy hours painting them and also made Xmas labels from old Xmas cards as Mum just had to cut them into shapes with pinking shears. I suppose all these ideas are more occupational therapy really, but it was easy and fun and gave her purpose.'