How to Teach Kids to Interact With the Elderly

If your child doesn̵7;t interact with older adults on a regular basis, she could get a warped sense of how older adults behave, according to an article from the Adoption Foundation entitled, ̶0;Children̵7;s Attitudes About Older Adults.̶1; Senior adult characters in children̵7;s fiction prior to the end of the 1990s were most often sick, weak and sad seniors. More modern senior characters are healthy, active and capable. Books are no substitute for knowing and interacting with a senior adult. Mentoring programs between senior adults and children and senior caregivers for children can benefit both populations, according to Jessica Adams in an article for the Healthy Aging Partnership, a coalition of nonprofits and government organizations dedicated to improving the lives of the elderly.

Instructions

    • 1

      Introduce your child to senior adults at church, near your home, at senior citizen centers and assisted living facilities. If your child̵7;s grandparents do not live close, enlist one of more ̶0;adopted̶1; grandparents to spend quality time with your child, reading with him, putting together puzzles and crafts, with appropriate supervision. Programs such as the one jounalist Lisa Morehouse writes about on edutopia.org in Tulsa, Oklahoma, between the Grace Living Center and the Jenks public schools demonstrate that kids and senior adults benefit from the intergenerational pairing.

    • 2

      Talk to your child about what she can expect when working with a senior adult. Address stereotypes your child may have about the elderly, such as that they are ill, weak, incapable of caring for themselves, hostile, lonely or sad. Meeting active seniors who volunteer as school mentors can give your child a different perspective about senior adults characteristics. Suggest activities she can share with seniors, such as talking about the past, creating memory books and listening to various types of music.

    • 3

      Role-play interaction between your child and an older adult. Stress that senior adults are as diverse as his peers. Talk about things he can say and do when a trusted senior is having a bad day, such as offering a hug, sharing a smile and a funny story, drawing the adult a happy picture, acting out a scene from a book or playing a game. Remind him that the senior might not cooperate with him. For a child age 8 and above, stress that his interaction can help his ̶0;adopted̶1; grandparent feel better and more useful, and help improve the senior̵7;s health, according to ̶0;The Benefits of Intergenerational Programs," which appears on Education.com.

    • 4

      Enlist your child̵7;s help to work with a senior who needs assistance with care. Find a relative or neighbor who needs help clearing the yard, cleaning the house, weeding a garden or learning to use a computer. Encourage your child to be patient with the senior adult if the adult moves slower or needs more help to understand how she is trying to help. You can provide the buffer or assistance your child needs to complete the task.

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