He does not notice she is not changing her clothes. My mother can still dress herself, but she puts on the clothes from the day before. My dad is aware of it when we tell him, but he is not with her choosing clothes and seeing that she puts worn clothes in the laundry basket. He will improve when we point it out, but then slips back to not being involved.
How do we help him handle this situation?
Unless it is filthy or smells, this is probably not a huge deal, but when they refuse to put on clean clothes....then the battle begins. Any way your dad could put her clothes in the laundry room so that they are not so easy to wear again?
Seems like my parents are always wearing the same thing, but if they aren't going outside for any appointments, there is no harm. I know my Mom still does all the laundry at her age [97] and she is very fussy how it is done, so I don't dare touch it :0
Or maybe when you or others go over to visit, you can tell her you're taking their laundry for them, and ask her to put on clean clothes so you can wash the ones she's wearing.
Believe me when I say, Sheregreen, that this problem is inconsequential compared to others coming down the road. Its only importance is serving as a barometer for your mom and dad's mental acuity.
How old is your dad and what is his general condition? He may not see it as a problem or he may have enough problems just keeping up with your mom with Alzheimers and his own failing memory. This is the first of many things you'll be dealing with where your parents are forgetting to do things you think they should do. At some point (maybe soon?) they'll need more help than they're getting right now, if this is a problem for them. Do they have anyone coming in on a daily basis to help them? What is their living situation?
With older parents, we as adult children, also have to adjust our own expectations to deal with the reality of their capabilities. If they can no longer handle things, we either have to let those things go (if they're not important in the scheme of things - we have to learn to pick our battles) or get them additional help.
This is not a crisis situation.....yet. But it may be the beginning of a slide downhill. My mom and dad make it (sort of anyway) at home because her mind is still quite good and dad supplies the muscle. If you are close, more visits may be needed to keep an eye on things.