So, I've been visiting a loved one in a nursing home recently. And I find myself fascinated by the way the staff -- doctors, nurses, social workers, etc. etc. -- speak to old people.
It's a lot like the way adults who have never had children of their own can sometimes be heard addressing toddlers.
The pitch of the voice rises to a new register, I suppose in an attempt to match the register of the little person they are addressing. Of course with old folks, that doesn't really apply.
You know what I mean?
Like everything?
Also. The phrases served up as encouragement are virtually idiotic. As someone passes by with the aid of a walker, it is not uncommon to hear a staff member exclaim:
Gettn' ready for that marathon?!
or
Slow down there! You're burnin' rubber!
Actually, to say that it is not uncommon to hear these things is a gross understatement. It is virtually impossible to pass a nurse's station alongside someone aided by a walker and not hear this sort of remark.
I know this is all well-intentioned. But when you hear this sort of talk day in and day out you begin to wonder what effect it must be having on the older men and women to whom it's directed.
Do you suppose a steady diet of being talked down to can result in diminished capacity for advanced cognitive thinking? Is it any wonder that the elderly who find themselves confined to nursing homes often revert to childlike behavior?
I wonder...
Boy, Mr. X, you could've been a ballet dancer with those steps.
What would happen if Mr. X turned around and smiled and asked:
Really? On what planet? Most ballet companies I've seen displayed far more grace and speed, actually.
The other day I passed a woman who looked to be ninety-five if she was a day. And in her arms she held two plastic dolls.
She thinks they're her babies, I was told by one attandant.
And you think she's yours, I thought.
