Choose Your Activities and Plan Ahead 

Having fun with friends can be more complicated when a parent is sick. That’s okay. Pick a few activities that are most important to you or that you enjoy the most. Plan ahead with the rest of your family to be sure everyone has time for the things they like to do.

At some point people with FTD stop driving. This means there will be one less adult in the house who can take you places. Be creative. Work out a family schedule. Find rides or even ride your bike to activities or friends’ houses. It can mean there are fewer things you need to give up.

Having friends over can be different when a parent is sick. FTD can make it difficult for someone to be around lots of noise and activity. The person with FTD might feel better and think better when they are in a calm setting and know what to expect. Or perhaps your parent will insist on sitting in the same room where you are playing, and might keep interrupting your game.

15Talk with others at home about deciding the best time and place in the house to play with friends. Maybe you can make one room just for kids or have friends over when the person with FTD is out of the house. It does get complicated figuring these things out but if you plan ahead and be creative you can still focus on fun.

We always played with our friends in the family room. After Dad got sick he wanted to hang around with us whenever we had friends over. That wasn’t much fun! We told Mom and she got help to fix up the basement so we could have a TV and our games there. We don’t have friends over as much, but when we do we plan it so she does stuff with Dad at the same time so he doesn’t bother us. 

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