In a previous article I mentioned I first became aware of intergenerational housing when visiting our aunt in a long-term care facility in the Netherlands. In that same environment there was also a daycare and a kindergarten.
A growing body of research points out as our population ages there are real health benefits in meaningful social engagement and intergenerational activities.
Intergenerational activities bring generations together to promote intergenerational connectivity which could also help fight ageism.
It is a way for children to develop empathy and an understanding of the needs of others. Whether it’s in the morning or at night when they are leaving, they are seeing people who are in wheelchairs, using walkers, and who have white hair.
Once, multiple generations of families lived together or in very close proximity. They shared the duties of caring for young, old, and sick alike. Now those who need care are tucked away in care facilities with their generational peers.
The breakdown of the nuclear family and increasing familial migration has accelerated this phenomenon. Babies live thousands of miles from their grandparents, and obviously aging adults live far from their children.
Additionally, people are living longer and may require more care than their family can provide, even if they live close by.
As a result, our society is more generationally stratified than ever before, making the elderly feel particularly alienated.
Mixed-age care could promote age-acceptance to both young and old.
We can’t undo our modern reality of young people being forced to leave home far behind in search of better opportunities and families being generationally splintered across the country.
We can, as a society, support and encourage the movement to reintegrate the generations in safe and loving care facilities. Babies and the elderly in daycare together could be one of the most promising ways to help alleviate elderly alienation and expose children to a generation they might otherwise never know.
While infants and toddlers may be too young to know what they are missing without seniors in their lives, aging adults could be one of the best groups to spend time with young children.
They can pass on decades of wisdom and are at a point in life where they have the availability and patience to provide the kind of stimulation young children need.
There are currently no official government policies or funding mechanism to actively promote the construction of child care centres or kindergartens in seniors’ facilities.
There’s an opportunity at hand, brought about by a variety of factors.
The demand for quality children and youth services compounded with the increasing need for creative older adult programs creates an environment ripe for innovative age-integrated care.
The time is right to find ways to connect our generations.
The Age-Friendly Committee will be submitting a brief to the Affordable Housing Review Panel for senior housing. This review will explore ways to make housing more affordable and accessible. All submissions are due by Aug. 31. You can get involved and submit a brief to the Affordable Housing Review Panel at [email protected]. The panel’s recommendations will be used to transform how affordable housing is delivered.
Submitted by the Age-Friendly Committee of the Olds Institute.
