Family game

Last week I called my grandma. She didn’t know who was talking; she didn’t remember she had granddaughters. Even after I told her, she couldn’t understand how I was related to her. She usually mistakes the people of our family (we are just 7), she quite often forgets about one daughter or the other; or who is the mother of her granddaughters or who is married to who.

I thought I could make her a family tree. She could find who is who and how we are related. I was thinking to make it interactive so she could “play” with the help of the carer, as we don’t live near her.

This game is ought to stimulate the conversation and recognition of relatives by the positioning of the cards regarding kinship.

Directions for playing the game:

Every card corresponds to each relative. All people generations are represented by colours and patterns and the mixing of them. Therefore, the oldest generation just have one colour, and the younger ones are the combination of colours from the oldest ones.

The symbols represent the relations between the same generation: brothers/sisters, wife/husband.

Those should be sticked before starting to play.

Also, names of relatives and matching kinship should be written in the labels and placed in the back of the card.

Testing:

It’s the birthday of my grandmother. 90 years old.

I gave her the ‘Family Game’ experience as birthday present.

When I hand it to her, she couldn’t read what was written in the box. I was not sure if it was my writting, if it wans’t big enough, or if her vision was not well.

Once she took out the cards with the pictures, she was happy. I guess she recongized herself and she liked her picture. And she was happy to have the pictures of everyone else. I started to quickly explain her the point of the game. She just told me “Oh my dear, this seems very complicated. But I was never good in games.”

After a few days I tried again to explain the game to my grandmother. I started by asking her help to fill the labels with name and kinship. 

She had no difficulty identifying herself and my grandfather. Then she couldn’t recognize anyone.

I gave her the cards of my mother and aunt. She asked to my grandfather and he told him straight away that those were their daughters, Carminho e Zezinha. Still, my grandmother couldn’t see it.

I called my mother and aunt. I asked her who they were. At first, she couldn’t say their names, but after insisting a bit she recognized them. I gave her the cards again, but she said the ones in the cards were not the ones in front of her (the pictures are recent, maybe 1, max 2 years old). I didn’t know if it was the size of the picture or the printing quality, if it was the bad vision of my grandmother, or the patterns in the background that made her confused.

I insisted. She realised before (with her card and my grandfather’s) that I was writing the names and kinship in the back of the card. She kept moving the cards around when I insisted to see if the answer was in the back.

I finally gave up of having her confirmation and wrote the names of my mother and aunt in the labels and I asked her if she agreed. She didn’t seem very convinced. 

The same happened regarding my uncle, myself and my sister. She couldn’t recognise anyone, even if we were to make the comparison between us and the picture.

Finally, I wrote all the names and all kinship relations. I also stick the brother/sister and married symbols, but I was not very sure of that as well. It makes it even more confusing. 

Dinner was ready. I was disappointed and exhausted. My sister too. And I guess my grandmother as well.

I don’t know if just the picture and names/kinship in the back is easier for her. Without giving any “tip” regarding the relations between people. I am not sure if the graphics are more complicated rather than helping.

I asked my sister to write how she felt and to make comments on the game:

“When we were playing with Granny, it wasn’t working. I was feeling a bit desperate, irritated, since she gave me the right answer and after a little while she was already saying a wrong one. It’s a shame. Her face seemed so confused and also irritated with herself as she couldn’t remember or couldn’t keep up with what we were asking her.”

“I think the cards should have just one bigger photo of the face, maybe without the patterns, because grandma could indentify anyone. Maybe you can put the patterns just in the back.

But I like the idea. If someone played that with her everyday, maybe she could get better. Or at least, just for exercising the brain.”