My parents are in their 90s (born in the 1920s) and they really enjoy reading these stories which are written with descriptive details to bring back memories. Ex: "She picked up the phone off the wall hook and dialed her friend's number which she knew by heart." Each story is 1-2 pgs long. I got two bookmarks, wrote dad's name on one, mom's name on the other, so they can each mark where they finish reading. I plan to buy more books like this.

Click on "Look Inside" above and you can read one of the stories as an example.

You can add more memory and cognitive stimulation by using the story book as follows:
1) Ask your family member to read some or all of the stories out loud to you. (You may want to read some stories out loud to them.)
2) Stop them about half-way through a story and ask, "OK, tell me how you think the story ends" then have them read the rest of the story.
3) After they read a story, ask them if they remember certain details from the story in their life and ask them to explain. Ex: Do you remember using a payphone on the street? What do you remember about the Beatles / Elvis / the day JFK was killed / the Moon landing / hula hoops?
4) You can write the beginning of a simple story and ask them to use their imagination and tell you the rest of the story. Ex: A brother and sister, ages 10 and 12 are at their family lake house for the weekend. Their parents leave to go to the store. The kids take the small sailboat out on the lake. Sudden strong winds take them quickly far out to the middle of the lake. Then they see dark storm clouds in the distance. .... ?

I also bought: The Easy and Relaxing Memory Activity Book for Adults ... has about 100 puzzles and worksheets to fill in that match my parents cognitive level perfectly .. just hard enough that they need to use most or all of their intellectual ability but they can complete each puzzle which gives them great satisfaction. For most of the puzzles, I ask mom to read the instructions out loud then I explain what to do if they need clarification. I also need to guide them through most puzzles so they know what to do but I don't give them the answers. There are answer pages in the back of the book for each puzzle.

When they finish the puzzle book, you can write your own puzzles in the same format as the puzzles in the book. Ex: Fill in the blank for famous expressions. "The ____ that broke the camel's back." You can write a list of expressions with one or two blanks in each one.

So I recommend buying both this story book and the puzzle book together.

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.4 (131 ratings)
Price	$14.66
Category	Aging Parents

Decades of Uplifting Short Stories for Seniors: 100 Funny Stories from the 50s to 90s that are Easy to Read for Elderly Women and Men (LARGE PRINT)