Tuesday, June 6, 2017—8:00 pm 59˚F (15˚C)—Overcast and Cloudy
Sometimes, history repeats itself in a strange way!
When our daughter, Parini, was born, Sumi and I were new to parenthood and relied on the Baby and Child Care book by Dr. Benjamin Spock whenever some concerning situation arose. Dr. Spock had become an authority in child development in those days. I clearly remember one piece of advice from the book: If the baby is crying, Dr. Spock said, “and the baby is not hungry, wet or in pain or sick,” you should not worry about the cry.
I fast forward the clock now. I have read lots of books on how to take care of a person with Alzheimer’s disease. One of the books, The 36-Hour Day is an encyclopedic guide showing how to care for people who have Alzheimer’s. This book gives advice on difficult situations and I refer to this book for guidance.
The times have changed, the situation has changed. But some functions, such as feeding, cleaning, bathing and dressing have morphed from doing them for a baby to doing them for a grownup. The delight of raising a child, who has continuous progressive development but very few experiential memories has now become a conscious decision to take care of a spouse who has lots of experiential memories but little progressive development.
 |
 |