📰 Resources for Adding “Work” to Activities 📰

It’s difficult to find information on adding work elements to activities for loved ones with dementia. Here are a couple resources that touch on the subject. If you find some other resources, please send them to me by responding to this email. I’ll feature them in the next edition.

• 50 Activities You Can Do Right Now (elumenEd): my list of 50 activities you can implement quickly and easily to engage your loved one in meaningful moments.

• Primer on Activities (Alzheimer’s Association): this is a great article on how to choose and perform activities that will draw on your loved one’s work skills and passions among other things.

🌟 Our Course of the Week: 🌟 

Caregiver’s Corner: Labor Day Edition—the Role of Work in Dementia Activities

There’s an interesting gap in the world of dementia activities: we don’t talk much about incorporating a person’s past profession into daily events.

Maybe it’s because so many of us have been conditioned to avoid work in just about every movie or TV show out there. There aren’t many roaring Netflix hits about people who love their jobs and are perfectly satisfied, right? It’s just considered common courtesy to grumble about work along with everyone else.

However, like it or not, most of us spend more time working than we do in any other portion of our lives except (if we’re lucky) sleep.

For me, work is a habit that’s difficult to break, even on vacation. I love my routine. It keeps me on track, motivated, and stable. It fills my days with purpose. Even when I’m on vacation, I feel the pull.

Because work has such a tremendous weight for most of us, I wonder why it’s so difficult to find information about dementia activities that leverage an interest in work.

Does your loved one get restless about going to work, sometimes? Why not allow them to fulfill related tasks if they still can. Would an English teacher like to edit a simple newspaper article? Would an office manager like to collate, staple, or check sample work assignments?

Remember that the point of an activity is for it to be meaningful. This doesn’t mean that your loved one has to be jumping for joy throughout (though that’s nice too). Meaning can be:

• Valuing one’s self by performing a skill others they’re compensated for (you can even get prop money and “pay” them)

• Feeling able to support their family

• Completing tasks requiring particular skills they possess

• Receiving recognition for a job well done

My mom and dad owned a printing company for 35 years. In early stages of dementia, mom was still able to proofread and alphabetize. Later, she could still collate, sort, staple, and perform other basic tasks.

This wasn’t just a nice thing for her to do. She didn’t break out into a mile-wide smile every time she got done stapling a stack of papers together. However, while she was “working,” she felt like she contributed to the world around her. She felt needed and useful. Isn’t that a nice way to feel?

There’s a story I like about an 8th-century Zen teacher named Hyakujo. I think he and my mom would have understood each other very well.

Work is the stuff of life. One way or another, whether we are pruning hedges as gardeners or acting as hedge fund managers, we work to provide for ourselves and our loved ones.

Here are some sample ideas from some other common professions that might be helpful:

• Teacher: sort or “grade” papers with colored stickers; read aloud to a small “class” of family photos; set up a whiteboard and circle time.

• Nurse: roll and band towels, set up a supply caddy, practice gentle hand‑washing demonstrations.

• Mechanic/engineer: sort bolts by size into labeled trays; assemble/disassemble safe, chunky components.

• Farmer/gardener: seed sorting, watering plants, wiping down garden tools, produce “inspection.”

• Office manager/bookkeeper: stamp envelopes, collate packets, file color‑coded folders, check a simple inventory list.

• Artist/craftsperson: fabric folding, simple weaving, painting to music, arranging materials by color.

Most of us celebrate Labor Day with a day off, but maybe there’s a way to give our loved ones a day “on.” How can we draw on their work experiences to give them a time when they can explore their own usefulness and be praised for their contributions?

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Help Keep the Caregiver Stories Coming

If this newsletter has helped you, would you consider supporting it?

Every week, I pour my heart into these words to make your caregiving journey a little lighter and less lonely. Many of you have shared how these stories have brought comfort, perspective, or even a smile on a hard day.

If you’ve ever found a moment of relief or recognition here, I hope you’ll consider tipping—$5, $10, or whatever feels right to you. Your support helps me keep writing, and reminds me how much this work matters.

[Support the Newsletter – It Only Takes a Moment]

Thank you for being part of this community.