<p>It is that time of the year again when I am in search for the gift that will make my 88 year old father smile. He has plenty of clothes and enough winter jackets and coats. He is pretty sedentary and I would love to give him something to do so the computer screen isn’t open and the idiot box is not blaring. Do any of you have any suggestions? He has plenty of music and can only read very factual big print books. He usually gets them from our library. I was thinking of a Wii system to get him moving but I am concerned about him doing the excercises and falling.</p>
<p>For older people with poor eyesight, consider audible.com. A few years ago, we gave my dad an ipod and a subscription to audible.com. I don’t know what their current deal is, but he got a choice between the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, plus some points that could be used to buy books and magazines during the year. It worked out very well for my dad, and surprisingly even for my mother. She has no problem reading, but really enjoys listening to the newpaper every morning while doing other things. I think that most of the time, he listens to the computer speakers rather than the ipod, but the ipod has been great when traveling.</p>
<p>momma-three, my 83 year old FIL was in a nursing home the last two years of his life.
He was wheelchair bound…legs didn’t work but arms were fine. The nursing home had a Wii for the patients to use. The game that they could all play and enjoy safely was Wii Bowling…lots of arm swinging…no legs/standing up necessary.
FIL would have never in a million years played a video game when he was living at home with MIL but really enjoyed it at the nursing home.</p>
<p>momma-three
I am getting some very helpful ideas on gifts for my s’s former nanny (she is now 75) on a thread in this forum. Lets compare notes!</p>
<p>We give the gift of VISITS. These can include outings to breakfast or lunch, a trip to the mall, the movies, whatever. Our family made a promise to have an outing once a week for our parent. This makes a huge difference. If the weather is crummy, we bring dinner to them and play cards or watch movies with them. The gift of company is something they cherish.</p>
<p>I just gave my mother fingerless gloves because she was complaining that her hands were cold in the house. I gave my Dad audiobooks when he had cataracts, but I don’t know how helpful they were. Mostly I gave my Dad sweaters.</p>
<p>The ipad has changed my 85 year old dads life (his words). After having a tough time with even large type books now he can read the WSJ, the NYT, his local paper all in big bright type. Loves reading book reviews in the NYT and then getting the book two minutes latter. Also loves to go to his local coffee shop and talk about his hip ipad with the younger set.</p>
<p>Thumper the gift of company is already something I do everyday of the week. Dad lives only five minutes from me and I see him at least two to three hours a day and sometimes twice a day if I think he is feeling lonely. I also have a brother who spends the same amount of time with him so I think my dad is very fortunate to have two kids who really see to all of his emotional needs. But now I need a gift…LOL.</p>
<p>Packmom…I agree that the Wii system looks like it could be a great thing to break up his day and give him something to do in his alone time… I take him to the gym for physical activity geared toward the elderly but that is only a couple times a week.</p>
<p>I’d third the suggestion of the Wii. It comes with Wii sports. My grandparents love playing wii sports. I think the games are tennis, bowling, baseball, wrestling, and golf… If I remember right.There is a new wii sports game also that as other sports on it. My mother loves wii fit, but I don’t know if that’s something he would enjoy doing or not. there are some fun exercises on there, but also some tough ones as well. You just have to make sure he doesn’t over-do it.</p>
<p>I gave my folks a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner & it seems to be well-received to date. Every time I go over (several times/week), I turn it on so it runs around the house. I don’t know whether they actually run it when I don’t turn it on, but at least I know it has run through their house a few times that week when I’ve turned it on. I’ve also bought them new sheets and a basket of dry ingredients (dad loves cooking). Gifts of services–housecleaning, throwing them a party with them able to invite whomever they want, pool service, yard work are always useful as well. My sister gave them tickets to a broadway production when it was in HI.</p>
<p>For my mom’s 94th birthday, which is coming up, my DH is getting her a gift offered by the New York Times. They’ll make up a book of all their front pages for every year since her birth. This is especially perfect for my mom because she loves to read the NYT everyday.</p>
<p>HImom…I think that Roomba carpet cleaner is a great idea, but I would be afraid that he would trip over it. My dad is not steady on his feet anymore and we have found ourselves moving furniture to make larger pathways throughout his home. </p>
<p>For those of you familar with the Wii, are there enough excercises that he could do while sitting down? One of the game systems that I saw had a pad that you had to stand on and I knew that would be a danger to him due to his unsteadyness.</p>
<p>A few years ago we gave Netflix subscriptions to the grandparents on each side. They both loved it - wonderful for the winter when they didn’t want to venture outside.</p>
<p>Harry & David will deliver a small box of premium fruit once a month for a year. This is something fun to get delivered all year long and they feature different fruits.</p>
<p>The ipad is great and has games that work on memory skills etc. There are a lot of free or very low cost games like cards and sudoku. Many books like the classics are free on Amazon’s Kindle app. It’s much lighter weight than a laptop. The only concern would be eyestrain if used for several hours. There are also all kinds of apps for organizing lists to remember things, calendars, address lists, apps for medical records. Those can be handy. I actually keep all of my current Rx’s and doses on my smartphone where my DH and kids know where to find it in an emergency. More than once they have had to give it to EMTs who would have given me wrong treatment. There is even a Netflix app. Many TV shows can be watched from the networks website a day or two after first broadcasting. This is great if you don’t use or don’t have a DVR.</p>
<p>I will say the Wii is a lot of fun. I had my first Will injury bowling but this would be hard to do sitting. Luckily my chiro lives a few houses down. Now I’m a bit less competitive The tennis might be okay as well as the baseball. All come with Will fitness and come with the Wii.</p>
<p>I just ordered my dad a large print bright yellow (black letters on yellow keys) keyboard for his computer. He has a hard time with his eyesight (the color contrast is supposed to be the easiest to see) and he just got a new computer with a 24" monitor (we are all envious!). Now the new keyboard should make that even better.</p>
<p>Also a book-- Windows 7 for seniors. I am sure I will have to go through it with him but there is just another bonding moment!</p>
<p>We give my 86 yr old FIL gift cards to his favorite supermarket, and also gift cards to the local Rockler’s, and L L Bean’s for clothes (which he then gets to choose). And he is very fond of jams/jellies, so I buy at least a dozen of them in gourmet and unusual flavors, and wrap each one. He loves unwrapping them to see what they are, then they go on his pantry shelf in the basement.</p>
The tennis might be okay as well as the baseball. All come with Will fitness and come with the Wii.</p>