Forum Discussion

Oh, having a quiet chat and coffee after a game of bingo sounds like such a lovely thing to do, especially if they are enjoying it!

I have little socials all the time and one of the most favorite things we do is "conversation ball". You can get one of these on S&S. It is a great conversation started and it adds elements of cognitive, and physical as well. Hope this helps.

Hi Morgan
I am guessing someone suggested this to the administrator without really checking out what's going on
You can do several things
Vote on it at a social or at a resident Council meeting
You can also invite family members and people from the community in general to one of your socials and have them socialize with residents who seem to be sitting there with no one to talk to

This could be a good marketing strategy
Many newspapers will let you put in short blurbs for free and you can invite the community to come to see your place
Along those lines you could invite the community when you were having entertainment

One thing I found worked well was a quiz or riddle that everyone at the table can work on as a group. Good Luck!

I do reminiscing but in a 'natural' forum,(so i call it 'coffee & conversation') so to encourage residents to take the conversation. But if your sessions work well on their own momentum thats even better. That was how i started however, and once ppl had covered the everyday conversation starters they needed prompting. Eventually people hear many stories over & over again and often from the same ppl. I've been told they didnt want to hear about everyone's miseries so i put a time limit on that topic, say after the first 5 minutes :) And 'gossip' often needs reigning in too. But i browse the papers to get topics, i do a quiz, a 'finish this tune', session, collected hundreds of jokes, current affairs topics etc, because people still want to share opinions and experiences, I've collected heaps of topics, and wld love to swap & brainstorm with others

I would love to share ideas with you

Hi Kymberly,

That sounds wonderful ! We'd love for you to share some of your ideas with us.

You can submit activity ideas here:
https://www.goldencarers.com/submit-activity/

Thanks Kymberly

I submitted a topic on the link but i often have trouble with it sending...? Generally my mornings go for about 90 mins, we have a cappuccino machine now, i put out some eats, and some residents also bring a plate which makes it more special. I so 3 sessions a week, have at least 5 topics to chat/reminisce about, get people's opinions on, and mix them with a music quiz, trivia, a joke or 2, poem, and someone will contribute something that i can try to get them and others to elaborate on. I ask a resident to bring a pic, or a trinket we've mightve had a conversation about in their room, and they proudly bring it along, getting lots of attention :) They love 'finish this saying', and 'finish this lyric'.

One topic this week - 'house husbands'. I read an article that, there are almost just as many dads staying at home with the kids now as mums. So i asked why that might be (after i jotted down the reasons for myself, such as Women making equal pay (?), more women having careers, dads more involved in kids upbringing now, men of generations past were overseas serving their country), and the topic i wanted to get at was, can dads do just as good a job as mums when it comes to bringing up the kids. I asked whose mum stayed at home? Who was a stay-at-home parent?). One man said his wife died at an early age and he had to raise his children which was very unusual for his time (google "stats stay at home dads australia"). My 3 groups had very different opinions. Anyone else like to share similar ideas?