Intergenerational Connectivity: How Your Senior Living Community Can Change the World.
What comes to mind if you stop to think about the impact you’re making on this world and how you can leave things better for future generation? “I’m going to minimize purchasing single-use plastics. I’ll recycle everything I can. I’ll use public transportation whenever possible. I’ll try my best to educate others in my life to do the same and strive to be a conscientious role model for the young minds I influence.” Does this sound familiar? That’s all a person can really do, right?
Sustainability is more important than ever. Being a solid example for children (who absorb everything) is crucial as we compete with an unprecedented number of influences, both in person and now online. But we’re overlooking one of the most significant topics that can help bring change to the world around us: intergenerational connectivity.
Intergenerational Connectivity? She Sounds Hideous.
Let’s back up for a second. That’s an awful lot of syllables and I haven’t had my morning coffee yet. What exactly IS intergenerational connectivity? Very simply put, intergenerational connectivity involves coordinating programs where people from different generations can spend time together to learn or grow in a way that they likely wouldn’t have if they spent that same time with their peers. These synergetic relations most commonly involve senior citizens, as they’ve grown to be an underutilized resource in today’s community.
By now, you may be thinking that’s an awfully fancy way to say catching up with grandma over Easter dinner – not exactly. Intergenerational connectivity is a strategic approach to senior wellness, curated by senior living communities and sometimes even local governments. This approach is most successful by arranging programming with a purpose, focusing on topics, skills, or pastimes that could positively impact the child or adolescent.
How Does Intergenerational Connectivity Help Mold Young Minds?
We’re taught growing up that it’s important to have role models in life – someone to look to for inspiration or someone we should aspire to be like, whether it’s a friend or family member who moves you personally or a famous person who motivates you on a professional level. But let’s look at the actual science behind why having mentors from an older generation is so crucial for childhood development.
“Youth are more likely to thrive when their passions and ideas are championed,” shares the Stanford Center on Longevity. “Especially when their champions help them cultivate a sense of purpose.” Their whitepaper, titled Hidden in Plain Site: How Intergenerational Relationships Can Transform Our Future, focuses on how positive adult influences can prepare children for a meaningful and productive adulthood, but also explores the bigger picture: the socioeconomic ramifications of not taking childhood development more seriously.
“The United States is at a critical juncture in preparing its young people for success in life,” the report states. “The Search Institute, which has studied youth development for half a century, points to a society that is struggling to instill the emotional tools and skills that new generations need for the complexity of today’s economy, culture, and institutions.”
As children have become more reliant on tablets, phones, and social media for both entertainment and education, soft skills crucial to in-person interaction have dropped drastically. Additionally, as the “normal” home life continues to shift, children may not receive the same well-rounded education as yesteryear. For example, a single mother may be more inclined to pay to have the oil changed in her car rather than getting her hands as she teaches her teenager in their driveway. A busy family of four, with both parents working full time, may resort to hitting the drive-thru more regularly than teaching their kids a special, from-scratch recipe that’s been in the family for years. Your senior living community is an untapped resource that can make a huge difference in the lives of children.
That’s Not All – Intergenerational Connectivity Also Helps Young Adults.
Okay, we get it. Having strong, positive influences in the lives of children is crucial to their, and our, future. But intergenerational connectivity doesn’t stop there. Various retirement communities around the country have also focused on how their seniors can make a difference in the lives of young adults.
While there are many life lessons that can be learned from seniors today, some communities are going above and beyond by offering vacant rooms and wings as affordable housing options outside the 55+ population. According to FinallyFamilyHomes.org, approximately 4,000 kids leave foster care and become homeless every year. Thankfully, the senior living industry’s experimentation with multigenerational housing has already started to make a great impact on low-income individuals, especially young adults who have recently transitioned out of foster care and have no close family members who can offer support or guidance.
“Such housing models nationwide have dual aims: soothing the loneliness of often-isolated seniors and youth who find themselves alone in the world, with limited income,” shares The Imprint Youth & Family News in their recent article titled Intergenerational Housing Connects Vulnerable Youth and Seniors. “The benefits go far beyond affordable rent… Homes for multiple generations of kin can help children and young adults thrive,” Ana Beltran shared with The Imprint.
Beltran has been a part of Generations United, a non-profit organization aimed at improving the lives of children, youth, and younger adults through intergenerational collaboration, for more than 23 years. She currently serves as the Director of the National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families. “For transition-age youth, connections with relatives or a network of support increases their self-worth, their identity, and their ability to navigate life.”
Senior Housing News shined a spotlight on one great example of this mutually beneficial living arrangement a few years ago. A then 18-year-old by the name of John Payne became a resident of an independent living community in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The non-profit organization responsible for coordinating this multigenerational housing arrangement requires that their non-traditional residents work a minimum of 10 hours a week at the community, as well as expects them to pursue a degree by enrolling in a four-year or community college, or a trade school of their choosing.
“Bringing different generations together is increasingly a goal of senior living providers across the country,” explains Senior Housing News. “Older adults increasingly express a desire to live in settings where they interact with people of all ages, rather than being cut off in a remote retirement community on the edge of town.”
That’s Great, But Why Seniors? And What Do They Get Out of It?
While we love our grandparents, who are eager to talk our ears off, and we have grown to fondly accept that our nosey lovely older, next-door neighbor is the best home security system, what exactly makes senior citizens such an important component in intergenerational connectivity? Why aren’t newer parents, who have been forced to really hone their problem-solving skills, the key to this formula? Why aren’t recent empty-nesters our go-to resource?
Both aforementioned parties obviously have plenty of life lessons to share, but the differentiator for seniors is the feeling of purpose. According to the whitepaper mentioned previously by the Stanford Center on Longevity, “Older adults are exceptionally suited to meet these needs in part because they welcome meaningful, productive activity and engagement. They seek – and need – purpose in their lives.” Allowing today’s seniors to play a bigger role in the lives of our community’s youth provides a feeling of societal responsibility and gives them the opportunity to make a difference for future generations. A study published by the National Library of Medicine agrees, further elaborating that “This redirection of attention from the self towards future generations fills the need to nurture, teach, communicate positive values, and leave a legacy.”
Someone clearly a fan of the connectivity afforded by multigenerational housing is Estelle Winicki. In a 2018 article by The Hartford, Winicki shared her thoughts on deciding to move to an intergenerational community because she didn’t want “to live among all old people.”
Since moving, Winicki shares that she has enjoyed the relationships she’s built with her neighbors, visiting a family twice a week to help get the children to the bus stop on time, which allows their mother to go to work early. Winicki has grown accustomed to helping children in the community with breakfast, homework, and even swimming lessons. “It gives us elders a sense of purpose,” Winicki says.
She must be a special case, right? Absolutely not. According to the Stanford Center on Longevity, this active and involved mentality from seniors isn’t going away any time soon. “Thanks to the added years of life and health resulting largely from 20th-century advances in science and public health, this is a group that does not feel old,” explains the whitepaper. “People in their sixties and seventies today have greater capacity to be productive and engaged than did seniors of prior generations.”
What Are Some Ways to Implement Intergenerational Connectivity in Your Community?
The limit does not exist. Everyone has moments in life when you catch yourself thinking, “I should know how to do this. Clearly, I missed an important day in school.” Or maybe, “I think Dad said something about this once, but what was it….” Your seniors are a never-ending wealth of information – tap into it!
Do you have residents whose apartments are alive with lush greenery? Perhaps you should consider starting a garden, but also provide visiting hours to the local community, so your seniors can coach those wanting to learn how to grow their own plants.
If you’ve had a terribly tough time judging a bake-off, because there are just too many talented bakers in the ranks, then this is the perfect time to welcome younger generations into the kitchen, especially as some children were raised on canned goods, dinner from a box, or value menus.
Don’t forget the vast knowledge today’s seniors can share about relationships and communicating. Invite community members or even local schools to visit you next Valentine’s Day and provide a panel of seasoned relationship experts who can share how they’ve weathered the storms throughout the years.
Finally, you can always flip the narrative and partner with a local honors society or other philanthropic organization to allow a day for students to teach seniors. While most people 55+ in today’s world have learned their way around a remote by now, new technologies such as social media can be tougher to learn and could become an enriching tool to many, allowing them to stay up to date with their children and grandchildren. Through teaching, young adults can learn soft skills, such as interacting with new, unfamiliar people, patience, and how to explain concepts that may seem like common sense to them.
Disrupting Generations - Unlocking the Power of Intergenerational Connectivity
We know. It can be easy to get stuck in old ways and minimize interacting with people who don’t share our same pastimes or experiences, but intergenerational connectivity is the key to future success – both for your seniors and generations to come. Is intergenerational connectivity relatively new in your community? Is it missing altogether? Don’t worry – we won’t tell. At ADage Marketing Group, we’ve built our business around what’s best for you and your seniors. Let’s set up a time to chat about your current programming and how we can mix things up. Click here to get the conversation started.
