Hi its Nazdrovia again
I probably sound like a broken record. My 85 yo father is frequently making rude and inappropriate comments. He's always had opinions on people but had a bit more discretion. But now he is worse and its sometimes about people I care about, more and more, where its getting to the point that I dread going out in public with him or even having a conversation with him. He comments on how fat a person is, or how someone's nostrils are too big or someone has tattoos esp on women which he hates. He points at them and its very embarrassing. If I don't agree with him or get annoyed at his comments he lashes out at me and turns it around so I'm the bad person. I just end up hating being with him. This is the same person who preaches religion constantly. When will it end????
Is this dementia related or he is just two faced and a nasty old man?
Do you need to take dad out in public?
How do you come to be living with him, or he with you?
Do you have plans to place him? Or to leave this abusive situation?
We all make our choices in life and then live with the consequences of those choices.
Even if he has dementia, he'll eventually see that his behavior is causing you to back away from him & see him less & less. If he chooses to continue the rancid behavior, then he's made the decision to see less & less of his daughter. Unless his dementia is advanced, he's aware of what he's doing, the choices he's making, and the effect it's having on the relationship with his daughter.
Good luck!
I see this behavior in 95% of people that I interact with that are over 75 years old and it gets worse as the age increases. So I think that they have become tired of holding their tongues and see no benefit from not speaking their mind.
I would tell my loved ones that something said was unkind or rude when it was said. It does help a bit, as they don't want to be corrected in public and I don't want them to hurt someone's feelings, so it is a good compromise. They don't get corrected and feelings don't get hurt if they use some discretion when speaking.
I'd visit him at home instead.
You mention that he always had opinions but more discretion. Though FIL hasn't been diagnosed with dementia, we suspect it. And I can agree with you that his filter is gone and he thinks he can say anything he likes. I don't know if it is because he no longer realizes how offensive what he is saying, if the people he is saying it to play it off as unintentional or out of his control and therefore he has no consequences. But it does seem that he no longer realizes that what he is saying is wrong in any way.
Our solution is likely not the best, but the combination of his lack of filter with his increasing immobility (by choice!) makes it nearly impossible to take him anywhere. He still comments to home health, PT, OT, anyone else who comes to the house and it is mortifying and we end up apologizing to nearly everyone he comes into contact with. Again that may be the narcissism. THAT is definitely getting worse as he gets older and his cognitive decline becomes more apparent. He feels that he has the right to say anything he likes and people in deference to his superiority should not be offended.
As GladImHere suggested - we also interrupt him and redirect when we can. But he often catches us so off guard that we don't even realize what he has said until after he has completed his thought.
It certainly keeps you on your toes.
The aforementioned indicates he is deliberately being rude, most likely because reactions entertain him, which in layman's terms, he could be described as "a two faced and nasty old man."
Unfortunately, if that's the case, then the only solution is to understand that he will not "change," because he is internally rewarded thru everyone's shocked reactions (positive or negative-as long as someone reacts). In other words, all of the reactions are his reward, and thus motivation to continue provoking, and eliciting reactions from others.
With that understanding you become empowered, due to the predictability of his behaviors.
Please be patient, the person I am with has Dementia.
These cards can be handed out to servers or other people in stores. It could also be given to anyone that the person with dementia may have made a comment about or to. It does not excuse the comment but does explain it. I think the cards I saw were from The Alzheimer’s Association. They may have them for sale or a script that can be provided to a printer.
It could be dementia. Often “normal” filters are lost. This is why you will hear of people exposing themselves, urinating in inappropriate locations, swearing or becoming violent just to list a few. Not everyone does these things but be on the watch for things your loved one did not or would not do in the past
My grandma in the NH had no filter at all. "Look at that woman! She's so fat!" she used to shout. Or "that lady's a B*TCH!" not even bothering to keep her voice down at all.
Or worst of all!! Many of the aides were Haitian. And she'd always tell me in a VERY loud stage whisper when they would come by "All these people are BLACK!!"
Oh my goodness. I have to laugh!!
I did this once in a supermarket queue, and it came from the gut without me thinking. A couple my age were in the queue behind me, the guy looked like ‘I’m too important for this shopping, it’s stupid women’s work’. The person in front of me was having trouble at the checkout with their card and pin, and this guy starts up loudly saying blah blah blah. I turned around and said ‘Be Quiet’. His wife grinned, his face froze and he went totally silent.
If they really know that it's rude, Keep It Simple!
Come to think of it, I did have to be brutally honest with my husband’s grandmother in public a few times because her comments were so outrageous that I was afraid that I would be killed as the innocent bystander.
I can’t even repeat the things she said in restaurants, shopping centers, etc.
A few times, I pretended not to know her! LOL 😂
For example, my aunt was formerly an old-fashioned schoolmarm with the gray hair in a bun. She developed dementia and began to lose her filter. At her assisted-living place, she became obsessed with using the word "ass." When her daughter, my cousin, would come to visit, Aunt M. would point to one of the aides and say, "Look at the fat ass on that one!"
My father, who also had dementia, started using the F-bomb a lot when he was in assisted living. Although he was a factory worker and might use rough language at work, he did not use it in social settings - until he got dementia.
Basically, you just need to learn to "go with the flow" regarding these inappropriate comments and not let them get to you.
Also, it may get to the point where you can no longer take him out in public.
Now, my husband has dementia/alzheimers and I have done all I can to educate myself so I can aide him and the number #1 rule is "the disease is to blame" and "not to take things personally". Easier said than done. For all of us...it is indeed stressful and there are so many triggers...hang in. Use support systems and this forum, and I wish each of you patience, comfort and strength.
My prim and proper godmother used to go out to lunch with my elderly cousin every week, who was also a very prim and proper woman.
My cousin said she would politely excuse herself to go to the ladies room.
When she went back to the table, my godmother would ask her in a very loud voice, “Did everything come out okay?” 😂 LOL
My cousin was embarrassed to go out to eat with her. Of course, later on we found out that my godmother had ALZ and eventually moved into a nursing home.
I made the mistake of asking my husband’s grandmother how she felt, just before dining in a fancy uptown restaurant. I was in my 20’s at the time. Trust me, never ever again did I ask her how she felt in public!
She blurted out, in a very loud voice, “I have tightness of the stool. I need a laxative!” 😂
LOL, I wanted to crawl under the table. Everyone heard her comment. The man at the next table pushed his plate away. She ruined his appetite. Others were either laughing or had shocked looks on their faces!
She didn’t have ALZ. She was just a nutcase! 😂
As you know, stress is not healthy for you and can take its toll over time.
So my short answer is to not travel with your father once you have tried all the suggestions. I thought "be quiet," might work as it is a direct command without any editorializing or explaining.
I do understand, deeply, how awful this situation is. I hope you can work this out.
Now it has come back to haunt her.
She needs help to go shopping and I refuse to help her so now I do the shopping myself. She used to be a real social butterfly but now because I refuse to go out in public with her she is regulated to staying in one room in her house. It is pure living Hell for her but she deserves it.
May I suggest you politely and firmly inform your dad his behavior is not welcomed and if he does it again you will just walk away and leave him where he is. And, you will never go out in public with him again.
Here's what you can do with your father.
Tell him you will no longer be taking him out of the house because his behavior is cruel, inappropriate and that being seen with him is an embarrassment you are no longer willing to bear. This is one way to handle it.
There's this way too.
When you have to bring him somewhere and he starts with the behavior treat him exactly the way you'd treat a child acting up. Call him out in front of everyone then make him apologize to the person he's talking about offensively.
I've had many homecare clients who thought they were entitled to say anything they might be thinking. I had one who every day had to keep telling me I was fat and needed to lose weight. I look fine, but she'd viciously critique everything you can imagine and this woman liked me. I used to take her out all the time. She was embarrassing in public about other people too. Her kids who rarely even saw her claimed she had dementia but it wasn't officially diagnosed.
One day it just got to me and I gave it back. I said that if she says one more thing I would leave her. That I'm the only person who goes to her house and helps her. I'm the only one who takes her out. I told her that no one else visits and her kids don't care. I told her that if I leave she can go rot in a nursing home because no one else is going to do for her.
She never made another comment to me again after that. She never made one to a stranger in public again either. Give this a try with your father.
Mind you, he is living in the house of my very kind and generous husband who has put him up because he loves me.
But i think i will be getting to the point where I will call him out on his BS soon. I'm just waiting for someone to react to it.
going to say things about people? Shall we try it but I’m bringing you home if it carries on.” He will be hostile like a toddler but I know at least a toddler grows out of it, whereas he is growing INTO IT! 😬
You really can't put a person with dementia in their place. You cannot reason with a brain that is broken. So if you are dealing with behavior issue, you really have to determine if they even understand what you are complaining about. If you approached a newborn baby and point blank told the kid they were not going to cry anymore or that you were not going to put up with crying anymore -- do you think the baby really understands that conversation? And, while I suppose it could happen, wonder how many toddlers were taken to the orphanage because they didn't follow direction after they were 'put in their place'.
If poster's dad is aware of what he says, then okay to have the chat with him or just quit taking him out in public unless it's medically necessary. If he doesn't always know, then just be prepared to apologize to people and explain his condition. He may or may not need facility care - you'll know when he does.