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Hello Jennifer

Nice to meet you.

Just wanted to say that I can totally identify with your Bingo predicament. I am working as a registered diversional & recreational therapist, in a dementia-secured facility in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. I have a male resident who cannot stand it that I am giving instructions to follow during exercises or any suggestions or encouragement to convince them to join in. This resident can be a challenge for me at times due to the fact that he simply snatches the ball, refused to return it and forced the rest of the residents to stop participating in an activity they really enjoy. One of my female residents is a person with zero tolerance for such behaviour and she would start yelling at him and won't hesitate to get physical. My main concern is always the safety of the surrounding residents within the reach of these two. When playing table games I always have chocolates to give out to reward the winners, but give the chocolates to everyone at the end in order not to contribute to any irritation or frustration the resident/s might have already. Believe me, I can totally understand your dilemma; it can be difficult. If I may suggest something. Maybe you can offer a reward based on pleasant and harmonious game playing and friendly but firmly confirm that you don't want any conflict during the game.

This can be a tricky situation but there are ways to defuse bad behavior at an activity

Periodically I used to run a kindness group Often it was impromptu

I discuss what it means to be kind and maybe read some poems such as the ones on Golden Carers

https://www.goldencarers.com/kindness-poems/3851/

Then I would ask for the residents for their input

Hopefully this will put residents in the right frame of mind

Remind residents that bingo is just a game and it’s meant for people to have fun

Tell them to remember that it’s not if you win or lose but how you play the game

You might add a kindness element to bingo where after someone gets a bingo anyone who says something kind to one other person gets a small prize

Limit this to a few residents after each game but include all the residents so that everyone gets a prize

You might also say that participating in bingo is a privilege and that if there are people Will exhibit Bad behavior they will not be able to play

Hopefully you won’t have to ban anybody from the game

Also make sure to separate the people who would usually get into arguments and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it

Another thought is that the person who is exhibiting poor behavior is sick or is coming down with something

UTIs Can bring on poor behavior in some people

I hope this helps

Laetitia

Thank you so much for your input hopefully my suggestions will help you to let me know if they do