Simple Solutions for
Difficult Behaviors
57 Important Things To Know About Your Parent's Past
Why is your loved one's past important? What does it have to with Alzheimer's?
How can it help? You will be amazed at how valuable this information will become.
As you know, Alzheimer's disease attacks the short-term memory and works its way back until the only memories left are the long-term memories. Your loved one will be talking about persons, places, and things you know nothing about. Behaviors might arise that totally baffle you. For instance, suppose your loved one begins stashing food. If you had completed this questionnaire, then you would more than likely think of question #23. Your loved one's memory has regressed to the year of1929, the Great Depression, or shortly after it. Food had to be conserved. Perhaps the year is 1942; food was rationed during World War II.
The answers to these questions can provide valuable clues for you, the caregiver.Some of these you can answer yourself, others answers can be supplied by older relatives, and many will be vivid memories your loved one can supply. I recommend that you use this questionnaire as a trivia activity over a period of time.
I think you might just be surprised at what you learn. Hopefully this will make yourcare giving more effective and less frustrating. I know it helped me, as an activity director, to get to know my clients and avoid potential distress. Good luck with your interview!
Read on for the 57 important questions about your parents past.
1. What is your name? Are you named after anyone? Did you have a nickname?
2. When were you born? Where?
3. How long did you live there?
4. What other family members lived near by? Who?
5. What kind of games did you play when you were little?
6. How was your house furnished? What decorations do you remember?
7. Did you have a favorite relative?
8. What were your family members like?
9. What was your house like? Was it in the city or the country? How many rooms? Bathrooms? Did it have electricity? Did you have an outhouse? Did you have a telephone?
10. What was your favorite toy? Why?
11. What was your favorite activity?
12. What household chores did you have?
13. Where did your dad work? Did your mom work? Where?
14. What is your first childhood memory?
15. Did you participate in any sports? If not, what did you participate in?
16. Do you remember any trends from your youth, such as popular hairstyles or clothes?
17. Who were your childhood heroes?
18. What was your favorite song? What kind of music did you like?
19. Did you have any pets? If so, what kind and what were their names?
20. What was your religion growing up? What church, if did you attend?
21. Who were your friends when you were growing up?
22. What personal events had an impact on you and your family?
23. What keepsakes have been passed down in your family?
24. Describe a typical family dinner.
25. Did you all eat together as a family? Who did the cooking? What were your favorite foods? Were there any foods you didn't like?
26. How were holidays celebrated in your family? Did your family have special traditions?
27. How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?
28. What do you remember about your grandparents? Did you see them often?
29. What home remedies did you have for illnesses?
30. What traditions did your family have?
31. What stories were passed down to you and your siblings about your parents and grandparents?
32. Do you have any famous relatives?
33. Have any recipes been passed down to you from your mother?
34. Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?
35. What historical events had an impact on you while you were growing up? Did any of them personally affect your family?
36. What was the full name of your spouse? Did you have a special name or endearment for your spouse?
37. When and how did you meet your spouse? What did you do on dates?
38. What was it like when you proposed (or were proposed to)? Where and when did it happen? Did he get down on his knees? How did you feel?
39. Where and when did you get married?
40. What memory stands out the most from your wedding day?
41. How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about him/her?
42. What makes a successful marriage?
43. How did you feel when you found out your were going to be a parent for the first time?
44. Why did you choose your children's names?
45. What was your proudest moment as a parent?
46. What did your family enjoy doing together?
47. What was your occupation and why did you choose it?
48. If you could have had any other profession what would it have been? Why wasn't it your first choice?
49. Of all the things you learned from your parents, which do you feel was the most valuable?
50. What accomplishments were you the most proud of?
51. What major illnesses did you have growing up?
52. What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?
53. Did you go to school? Where did you attend school?
54. Did you graduate?
55. What your favorite subject?
56. What was your worst subject?
57. Who was your favorite teacher?