At ONEgeneration, a day care center in Van Nuys, CA, children join seniors with neurologic disorders for various activities, such as teatime, bingo, singing, and painting. Everyone has a good time, and special relationships are formed. On National Pancake Day in February, for example, a 74-year-old grandmother with dementia, who usually sits quietly, excitedly welcomed her 4-year-old pal and then patiently helped the child cut pancakes with a plastic knife. Another day, the woman read the picture book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes to the preschooler, who remembered that her late “nana” had a cat.
Established in 1978 for adult day care, ONEgeneration added programs to create meaningful contact between seniors and children after it expanded into child care in 1994. “Intergenerational programs decrease loneliness and depression in adults,” says Jenna Hauss, CEO and president of ONEgeneration, “and research has shown they increase kids' empathy for older adults.”
Adults at ONEgeneration can visit the child-care center and hold babies as young as 6 weeks. Supervised by staff, seniors sit in rocking chairs and cuddle infants, give them bottles, and sing to them. “Despite the dementia diagnosis, the maternal and paternal instincts can still kick in, and the seniors feel a sense of purpose,” says Hauss. “They can care for others. They don't always need to be cared for.”
Through these programs, “shy kids become more talkative and engage in ways they don't with classmates,” says Julyana Marquez, a specialist in intergenerational programming for ONEgeneration. “And quite a few older adults who don't participate in our regular activities participate in these.”
The Van Nuys intergenerational program is one of 800 nationwide in the database of Generations United, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that promotes such activities for schools, memory care facilities, and senior centers. In an African American community in Austin, TX, children and older people garden together; at a Los Angeles center serving a Korean American population, seniors and kids hold storytelling sessions; Oregon State University connects elders of the Siletz tribe in Portland with young people so they can learn the tribe's basketmaking and weaving methods.
“Ongoing relationships between seniors and kids really make a difference,” says Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United. At the Hearts & Minds Activity Center in San Jose, CA, another site with both adult and child day care, the staff “saw something magical happen” when the two groups first interacted in the “Grandmas and Grandpas” program, says Rosa Barneond, director of the child-care center. “We saw even very limited adults tossing balls with children.”
Barneond also mentions a young girl who had been frightened to enter the building to visit her grandmother but overcame her fears after interacting with the seniors. “The program helped her become familiar with wheelchairs, canes, and people who have wrinkles.” Now the child is happy to visit her grandmother. “She sings and draws pictures for all the residents,” Barneond says.
The program also facilitated connections between a 3-year-old and his 87-year-old grandfather, who has dementia. The two make patterns or build structures with Magna-Tiles. “Now that the grandfather recognizes the boy from seeing him every day, his whole face lights up when his grandson visits,” says Barneond.
“When somebody has dementia, it's difficult to do family gatherings,” says Maria Nicolacoudis, CEO of Hearts & Minds, whose brother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. “This feels more like real life, like a natural environment.”
Other senior facilities have cultivated relationships with high school and college students who visit regularly and participate in storytelling, bowling, golf, shuffleboard, and other activities. Some of the relationships are virtual, with the young and older people talking weekly by video or phone call.
Chicago teenager Maya Joshi and two friends started a teen/senior group called Lifting Hearts with the Arts in 2020. They wanted to reach out to residents in assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and senior living centers during the pandemic, and raised money to provide seniors with laptops so Lifting Hearts could hold virtual events. These days, many of the organization's activities are in person: Teens get together with seniors for “painting, drawing, weaving, knitting, playing trivia, listening to music, or just chatting,” says Joshi, now in her first year at Princeton University. Art created by Lifting Hearts participants has been exhibited at the care facilities.
Lifting Hearts' pool of high school volunteers is growing, and Joshi hopes a pilot program she's launched under the name Coll-AGE will help spread the initiative to campuses. “Sometimes it seems like getting older is shrouded in mystery, and that creates a generational gap,” says Joshi, who has added songs from the 1950s and 1960s to her playlist after they were recommended to her by residents. “Young people can learn so much from seniors, and I think it's just as valuable for seniors to learn about younger generations.”
How to Build Bridges Between Young and Old
Activities that connect young people with older adults can happen at senior or community centers, schools, churches—even dinner tables. Here are pointers for getting involved in or organizing such events.
Find inspiration. To see examples of intergenerational programs, visit the website of Generations United, an organization that maintains a database of such programs, including at least one in every state. Or check out the Penn State Intergenerational Program for fun and meaningful ways for people to engage across generations.
Tap into the seniors' skills. A former nursery school teacher might like to feed or rock babies at a child-care center. A retired farmer might want to plant tomatoes in a community garden. “Some of our seniors were engineers and doctors—they may say, ‘Let me help you build a castle’ when working with a child on tiles or Legos. And the child watches and learns,” says Rosa Barneond, child care director of the Hearts & Minds Activity Center in San Jose, CA. During story time, the seniors read to the children. “It gives them a sense of purpose,” says Barneond. “They say, ‘I can't miss the day’ and ‘I can't let the children down.’”
Let kids talk about their world. Encourage children to share their interests—sports, music, TV, friends, or even a funny TikTok video. “Teach them the art of conversation,” suggests Maya Joshi, founder of Lifting Hearts with the Arts, a Chicago group that pairs teens with residents of nursing homes and senior residences. Or, she adds, “you could play Never Have I Ever or Two Truths and a Lie.”
