Thank you Carolyn, I'm going to see if it would be a good book for the grand children to read. I want to see the book to make sure it will not frighten the children. I don't want them to be afraid they may have inherited a tendency to develop PD.
And Teresa, you are so right, it must be so hard for the young PWPD to cope with both the illness and with all the emotions of younger children who see a parent struggle with PD. I am so grateful that my children were adults before my symptoms became debilitating.
I am not at all happy that both of my daughters have explained my illness to their children as just a sign of old age. It makes me feel ancient and wretched when the little ones borrow my cane and say, "I'm old, like Mormor!"
It is easier for the parents to say I'm just old. No explanation is required, and no fear is elicited because old age is thousands of years in the future when you are 4 years old. The little ones don't yet know that I'm the youngest of their grandparents.
However, one of the little ones was astute enough to ask me last week end when we visited, "Mormor, are your legs very old?" and I explained to him that they were not so old, but they had Paralysis Agitans.
Parkinson is a person's name, it says nothing to a child, but Paralysis Agitans is a name just for this illness.
His Mum was not happy that the subject came up, she prefers to pretend that I'm fine, it is her way of coping with my illness. She wants to know as little as possible about it. If the book by Ali is good, then maybe the little ones will teach their mothers that it is not because I'm old that I shuffle.

birte