Who are these happy pleasant seniors with dementia we see portrayed in adverts?

The adverts don't generally present the 2 a.m. shift, or negotiations about What To Do For Christmas.

And besides, those happy pleasant seniors are probably just what yours look like to outsiders.

I actually know plenty of "demented" seniors who are very happy, relatively healthy and look like they could pose for a commercial for "happy aging". We don't TALK about them because they ARE happy and healthy and not driving us up the wall with craziness.

I really wonder what I am going to be like in my dotage. Kind of hope I don't get one. I'm already so crazy it's just going to be a tiny slip in one of the cogs in my head and I'm going to be running naked down the streets singing show tunes.

My grandmothers were adorable to the day they died.

What gets me is the commercial that says, “Dad made us promise to keep mom at home.” I know this sounds rude, terrible, etc. & makes me sound like a @*# but Dad should’ve stayed alive to keep her at home & see how well that works.

Rhetorical question. No. No one has. Or, I won the baddie lottery. Finding humour where I can. Even if dark.

Lol, no they don't, do they? Or the constant battle about every.single.thing.

I still remember the one commercial where Grandmother was coming to live with daughter, son-in-law, and children. It was a bank advertisement about loans so one's parents could live with them by either adding onto the house or remodeling the basement, etc.

Toward the end of the commercial where everyone was hugging each other smiling, Grandma was heading to her car dressed in tennis clothes, to get her tennis racket. SAY WHAT ????

It seems like my MIL is still pleasant & agreeable (at 91), but her own kids may feel differently, lol.

I always yell at the TV when those come on. They make it look so easy. Elder is always docile and smiling. Where is the one that will wake you up at 2am to remind you they don't want oatmeal for breakfast? Or the one who just placed their used Depends on their head? Or the one who made a racist comment to someone in the store?

Oh boy do I agree! When folks moved in we had to "buy" their car as neither of them had a DL, and it needed insured and they liked being driven around in it, as does my FIL by the way.. (and brag about it..LOL. ) Mom still refers to it as "her car" and gets snarky sometimes about our running it 3 or 4 times a month so it stays useable. Today hubs found a big leak under it.. so of to the garage it will go this week.. and mom says.. wait for it.. "Well it's your car" This is just one example of her passive aggressive behavior.. lets show THAT on TV !

Still a newbie at this, but I have gotten some good use out of “reading” the 36 hour day audiobook. Remembering to go where they are rather than struggling to bring them into your reality seems to be key. Since implementing the tactics I’ve been able to bring mom from crying to laughing in a matter of minutes several times. It helps if you already have a skewed since of reality to begin with. Research “theatre of the absurd” and go with it.

Just make ale sure to carve out real reality time away so you keep a reality string that will guide you out of the rabbit hole when you go to far in or for too long.