Self-Care 2

Being a caregiver is often exhausting. Both physically and emotionally.

Caregivers need to take care of themselves. It's a cliche for a reason, but you can't get water from a dry well.

Keeping ourselves in good shape emotionally and physically can be a challenge.

Today, let's talk about how to do some easy at-home self-care by being silly.

Here are a few things you can search for online that might get you and maybe even your Loved One in a silly mood.

• baby goat videos
• goat sings Whitney Houston (trust me on this one!)
• jokes for kids
• knock knock jokes - if your Loved One is still able to read, have them do the reading while you do the answer part, they'll enjoy it more
• silly jokes about summer (winter, Christmas, birthdays, Halloween, sports, food...)
• blooper reels for your favourite TV shows or movies
• kids laughing
• sports gone wrong
• pandas
• silly animals

(Photo by Antevasin Nguyen on Unsplash)

Of course, you don't have to go online to get silly.

• have a dance party to music from all different generations and styles (Lizzie is in a wheelchair but she still loves to dance!)
• talk about memories of silly times
• sing songs from childhood (Row your boat, Doh a Deer, Itsy Bitsy...) and make up the words if you can't remember them
• draw silly pictures (combine an alligator & mouse into a new animal, draw a squiggle & turn it into a picture)
• write a silly story and add in drawings (Once upon a time there was a raccoon who wanted to meet Lizzie for tea...)
• tongue twisters (red leather, yellow leather always gets me!)
• limericks (There is a young lady named Lizze, who keeps her daughter in a tizzy, they love to sing songs, the shorts & the longs, and Lizzie keeps everyone busy!). Obviously they don't have to be perfect!

There's really nothing quite as healing as a good belly laugh!

Check out the book Dancing With Dementia for more easy self-care tips.

How about you? Any more ideas about silly things to search for? Any other ways to get a good belly laugh?