Hi I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions of thing I can do with my lovely mum.
She has MS and I’m finding it hard to come up with ideas of things to do/places to go with her when we have a mother/daughter day together that don’t involve much walking.
she’s just starting to walk with crutches (even though she should have started years ago!)and get tired very easily. She always tries to do too much and pays for it in the following days. I’ve been trying to think of things we could do together that don’t involve to much walking and don’t involve evenings (she isn’t good in the evenings) I’ve also tried trying to get her to stop regularly when we have been doing something that involves walking like shopping for example but she’s too stubborn!
any suggestions would be fantastic and much appreciated.
Cinema, theatre, garden centre with tea-room…anything where she has the chance to sit down as and when she needs. If you can persuade her to try out a shopping centre’s scooters that would be ace.
It is difficult but I would suggest starting from the opposite angle - what is she interested in? Once you start thinking you may well get some inspiration. Gardens? Film? Theatre? Lunch followed by an afternoon showing at a cinema? I fully understand how hard it is, but the suggestion already made to get her to try out a mobility scooter is an excellent one. Once she realises just how much freedom she will gain and sees it as a plus then she may well decide go get her own. Some National Trust gardens have scooters that can be borrowed.
The other point of course is that with this winter going on for so long it is difficult to think of things to do that do not involve freezing to death. With any luck with the spring weather will start any day soon and then it will get much better.
How about a little pampering afternoon? Face masks, foot soaks, nail varnish, maybe accompanied by an afternoon tea? You could always do this at home or you wanted to splash out a little for a special occasion and spend a morning/afternoon in a spa - there are quite a lot of groupon/wowcher deals out there, where you can get something along the lines of lunch, a manicure and access to the pool/relaxation rooms for a half day for about £30 for both of you. Might be an idea for something different if you mum likes a bit of pampering!
How about a city tour? I don’t know where you are but London has some great options (I know London is not the centre of the universe and other cities offer great excursions too, but I know London the best and it does have some fab stuff). You could take a bus tour or, even better, a river cruise. There is one that leaves Westminster Pier and goes all the way to Greenwich and back. You don’t even have to get off at Greenwich. It’s about 3 hours in total, all of which is sitting down looking at some great views. There is also the equivalent of Paris’s Bateaux Mouche, where you can combine a meal with a river cruise. What could be more decadent then enjoying a long, lazy lunch whilst cruising up the river. Dinner Boat Cruise on London’s River Thames | Bateaux London Hope you find something. Al
I would say anything that involves the following criteria:
Quick access to toilet facilites
Somewhere that’s not too obviously designed around disabled people
Goes without saying, but as few steps as possible, or lifts.
Somewhere without narrow corridors
Somewhere to sit down at any point (using crutches is incredibly tiring)
I’ve taken my dad to a few places, and sometimes (money permitting), I visit them and see how they will work out first. The important thing is to NOT suggest or mention that the venue was only chosen because of disabled facilities, it’s not good for your mothers mental health to think extra effort has been made to find a suitable place.
I hope that helps. Some of the above ideas are great, for instance my dad was taken to Amsterdam where river cruises are available - with excellent facilities onboard. Oddly though, if you ask where they are, some don’t know they exist, even though they do!
I found Pilates very helpfull. I went to you tube and view some basic pilates moves. Than I practice myself and took my friend to the nearby park. It was hard in the begining but worked better after 10 - 15 minutes.
