Conscious Choice: Aging Intergenerationally

November 1995

Aging Intergenerationally

by Ina Albert and Mary Jeanne Clark

Jack paced back and forth across the floor of the living room area of the Adult Day Center, then moved through the open doors to the solarium and circled the tables and chairs nervously, returned to the living room area, then walked around the tables in the adjoining activities room.

Jack was agitated. He had been in Condell’s Day Center for Intergenerational Care in Libertyville for a number of months. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and his wife decided to move to Libertyville so that he could be enrolled in this innovative center run by the local hospital. It was a unique intergenerational model program especially suited to elders who can no longer live independently.

"Come on, Jack," said one of the staff members. "Let’s go see the babies."

She took his arm and walked him through a door that led to the adjoining children’s area of the center, and into the infants’ room. Inside the nursery, several staff members were holding babies, others diapering and still others holding and rocking them. The staff member invited Jack to sit down in a rocker and put one of the babies in his arms. His expression shifted immediately. He smiled at the infant and began cooing as he rocked back and forth. The baby responded with gurgles as he reached for a big thumb. Jack’s agitation disappeared.

Until recently, youngsters and elders were usually in separate day care facilities, either isolated from each other completely or brought together in nursery, preschool, or nursing home settings for occasional visits or special programs. As a result, seniors were often denied the joys and stimulation that can come from being with children, and children were not able to learn from the experiences of older adults.

Intergenerational programming offers the opportunity to dispel myths and stereotypes about youth and old age and adds many benefits to all the populations involved.

"The power of intergenerational programming has to be seen to be believed," says Chicago TV director Ted Kay. So over a two-day period he and a videographer recorded the daily routine at the Day Center on tape. The result was "Growing Together," an impressive ten-minute demonstration of the strength of intergenerational relationships.

"One thing is abundantly clear from watching "Growing Together" — these people enjoy one another," says Kay. "If we had no soundtrack and if you just looked at the faces — if there was no music and you just responded to the interaction on the screen, you would still experience the power and joy of the intergenerational connection. The videotape presentation challenges all our prejudices about ageism and our theories about the possibilities of human relationships."

Children and elders are ordinarily under constant supervision and direction from the parents and caregivers on whom they depend. However, with one another, there are none of these expectations or demands. They can accept each other unconditionally and enjoy each other completely. They can love one another simply and without expectations.

Reb Zalman Schachter, internationally renowned scholar and professor emeritus at Temple University in Philadelphia, a base for landmark studies in intergenerational care, looks at the aging process in a special way. His book and seminar, "From Aging to Sage-ing....Spiritual Eldering," is based on our changing perception of growing old.

"What I am trying to do is bring back the‘vitamin’ of grandparents," he says. "By creating intergenerational possibilities, both (groups) gain. The old ones gain vitality from the contact. The young ones gain wisdom and a perspective on life."

Condell’s Day Center accommodates both age groups under one roof and offers integrated activities as part of the daily program. It accepts children from six weeks to six years old and adults over age fifty-five. On a daily basis, the center serves as a catalyst for interaction between 135 children and forty older adults who develop purely grandparent/ grandchild connections — sharing activity, teaching one another, loving one another, helping one another.

When it was first built, the center was unique in the Midwest. It was the only day center built from the ground up with intergenerational programming in mind. For example, the gymnasium incorporates youthful shapes and colors, yet is accessible to senior participants as well as the children. The brightly colored playground equipment incorporates seating for adults so that they can be with the children as they play.

The children’s area has eight classrooms filled with tools of learning that foster development. Those tools are shared by the elders who come to their classroom to play games, draw and join in story telling.

The senior area is a comfortable homelike setting complete with a solarium and living room with a fireplace. The children visit each morning for songfests, games, and crafts activities. Each area is suited to the developmental stages and needs of each age group.

The physical planning of the building was complicated by the fact that it needed to incorporate the rules and regulations of several state agencies. Work with these agencies has pioneered new standards and guidelines in Illinois for guaranteeing quality care in intergenerational settings.

Before participating in any intergenerational program, it is important for all staff to understand life span development. It is also important to sensitize the children about seniors. To help the understand the limitations of some seniors, children experienced wearing Vaseline on eyeglasses to demonstrate limited vision; uncooked lima beans in their shoes and walking with a cane or walker to demonstrate limited mobility; placing cotton in their ears to demonstrate hearing impairments.

It is also important to remind the seniors about the children’s level of development so they will be ready for and comfortable with the noise and energy levels of young children.

In spite of these developmental differences, intergenerational programming brings seniors and children together remarkably well rather than accentuating the differences between the two groups. When young children in an intergenerational day care setting interact with elders, the seniors feel useful and valued.

The physical and mental health of older adults may even improve as a result of new relationships with younger children. It refreshes old memories for the seniors while providing the youngsters with positive experiences with older adults.

The vision of the model program is based on the belief that every child, senior, and staffer is special — an individual — one of a kind. Staff members who primarily care for one age group are educated in the developmental issues of the other participants. Cross-training, with on-the-job time in different areas of the program, gives the staff a chance to find their own comfort level and develop a sensitivity to the other age group. Having staff feel comfortable with the older adults and with the young children is 95 percent of the success of the program.

Positive Programming
The program was designed with a number of goals in mind:

• Decrease any fears the young children may have by alleviating or preventing misconceptions of aging: The teachers incorporate an understanding of the aging process in the teaching process.
• Stimulate communication: Regular daily contact through planned and structured activities offers the opportunity to communicate with one another.
• Provide for transmitting tradition from old to young: All of the sharing activities can be used to talk about the child’s world as it is now, how the world used to be when the adult was a child, and how it may be in the future. Adults can share their expertise with the children or assist them with projects, transforming the exercise into intergenerational teamwork.
• Enhance quality of life: Special relationships form between children and "grandparents" at the Center. These are truly "grandparent/grandchild" bonds. A "family" bond seems to develop at the Center between and among the children, adults, staff and their families.

Condell’s Vice President Patricia T. Austin, the guiding influence behind the intergenerational day care program, says, "If we can open ourselves to the possibility that, even with diminished faculties, elders have something to teach us — that we can still touch and be touched by them — that, on a very real level, they retain that spark of individual humanity that identifies our commonality — that elders make a contribution to our lives — then the opportunity to enjoy their continuing experience of living will open the way for understanding the value of day care of intergenerational programming."

Ina Albert, APR, is a freelance writer, director of Public Relations and Marketing at Condell Medical Center, and a doctoral student in Healthcare Communications. Mary Jeanne Clark, RN, BSN, MA, is director of Condell Day Center for Intergenerational Care, Libertyville, IL.

For additional information about Condell Day Center for Intergenerational Care, call 708-362-2905, extension 5275.

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