Understanding dementia can be difficult for most people to come to terms with but explaining dementia to children can be a lot harder. Children’s book ‘Big Bear, Little Bear and Dementia’ helps to explain dementia to children.
Book To Help Explain Dementia to a Child
The author, Katie Faulkner, wrote ‘Big Bear, Little Bear and Dementia’ due to her great-grandmother receiving a dementia diagnosis when Faulkner was just eight years old.
In the book, Big Bear lives with dementia and can no longer always do the things that Big Bears do. Little Bear is confused by this and approaches Doctor Bear for support. Doctor Bear explains to Little Bear that we store memories inside memory books. These memory books can become affected by dementia. Although Big Bear can no longer read the memory books, these memories are still inside Big Bear. Big Bear is still Big Bear!
That is perhaps one of the most important things to remember when explaining dementia to children. Their loved one is still the same person. The author even wrote the book to be inclusive for everyone. The bears do not identify with any particular gender, race, religion or culture. This way, understanding dementia is easier due to representing the diverse range of people affected by dementia.
Katie Faulkner said: “The feedback from people who’ve read the book has been amazing, this is a complete passion project for me so I am so pleased it’s been really well received.”
Specialist Dementia Care at Stanfield Nursing Home
Here at Stanfield Nursing Home, we pride ourselves on the high standards of dementia care that we provide to our residents on a day-to-day basis. A key part of our care home in Worcester is our staff. We have high staff retention. This is important as we want our residents to be completely familiar with their caregivers, who will continually meet their needs and demands. It is also beneficial for the family members of those we care for. When they come to visit, they are greeted by familiar faces.
You can contact us by email if you would like any help in explaining dementia to children, or understanding dementia yourself.
Contacting Stanfield Nursing Home
If you want to learn more about dementia care provided at Stanfield or the nursing care we provide, please visit our website today. Alternatively, you can call 01905 420 459 to speak to a member of our helpful and friendly team. You can also check out our social media for daily updates.
If you have found this useful, you may wish to read our blog about Understanding What to do When a Loved One is Diagnosed with Dementia.