The Benefits of Intergenerational Programming (They're Not Just for Seniors!)

According to Erik Erikson, the primary developmental/psychological event for adults in their senior years is a reflection upon their lives and the imprint that their life has made upon the world. If they look back upon their life and accomplishments as feel a sense of productivity and fulfillment, they will achieve “ego integrity” and attain a sense of wisdom. If they look back upon their life and do not find that sense of fulfillment or purpose, they may fall into despair and be plagued by feelings of regret, sadness, or fear of death.[1]

Intergenerational programs that encourage an interaction between senior adults and schoolchildren can help to foster an increased sense of ego integrity for the senior participants, as sharing their experiences and abilities with the younger generation can reinforce their feelings of accomplishment in their lives. Having these conversations and building these relationships can increase the seniors’ perception of self-worth and can provide a constructive, novel outlet for them.  It can help them challenge and redefine their pre-conceptions about the younger generation and their relationship to them. But perhaps most interesting, it can help them create new relationships that provide a real sense of value and purpose in their later years.[2]

An older woman participating in New York’s Community Agency for Senior Citizens (CASC) Senior Pen Pal program received a letter from a little girl who expressed sadness about her recently separated parents and having to alternate between them each weekend. The woman felt a special connection to this girl and felt that she could be a unique support to her, as her own granddaughter did not have a relationship with her father after her parents’ divorce. The woman used her letters to the little girl to build up the girl’s feelings of self-worth by writing “you are very lucky that your father and mother both want to be with you.”[3] Programs such as this one that encourage intergenerational conversations and relationships offer strong outlets for ego integrity development, as the seniors are creating new relationships that have impacts on both themselves and their partners. The CASC Senior Pen Pal program is now operated by the New York Department for the Aging as Platinum Pen Pals, a partnership between high school students and seniors.

What might not be as immediately apparent is that the benefits for the younger participants are just as far-reaching as those for the elder participants. As modern lifestyles and families change, family members are more likely to live at long distances from each other and children are less likely to be regularly exposed to the older generations of their families or other seniors. When children participate in intergenerational programming that encourages conversations and partnerships with senior citizens, the children create relationships that, at minimum, help them break down stereotypes they may have about elderly people, and at best, provide them with unique, role models that have rich life experience different from their own.[4]

Since 1997, the NewCourtland Elder Services network in Philadelphia has been taking intergenerational programming a step further with “Comfort and Joy: Celebrating Intergenerational Artistic Achievement.” This multi-generational program pairs senior citizens from six area nursing homes, school children, and professional artists to explore and create a variety of different art forms. In 2004, the products of this program, which included handmade dolls, mosaic murals, quilts, documentary films, and even a small scale village that captured the seniors memories of the past.[5] 

To facilitate a positive experience and enhance the opportunities for relationship building, all participants (Seniors, children, and artists alike) attend sensitivity training before beginning the program. These training sessions are designed to help the participants learn positive ways to engage with others and learn from their perspectives and experiences. And indeed, the relationships that result have been strong and have provided great benefit to all participants. According to Pam Mammarella, creator of the Comfort and Joy program at New Courtland, “[b]lending elders with students gives both groups unprecedented opportunities to learn, teach, interact, and react not only to each other, but also with the professionals guiding the various projects.”[6]

The various projects are designed to promote this cross-generational learning, but using students as interviewers who tap into the seniors’ memories and experiences, which are then used to develop the art. In this sense, the students gain unique insight into not only the histories of the seniors, but their personal perspectives as productive, insightful individuals. At the same time, the seniors are learning new artistic and narrative talents through the program. “For many, their lives are now richer and more diverse,” says Mammarella.[7]

Locally, the Kreeger Museum hosts a monthly intergenerational version of its Conversations program for seniors with dementia and their caretakers.   Modeled on the successful “Meet Me at the MoMA” program, Conversations pairs observation and discussion of the museums’ art with poetry and music. The Kreeger hosts four Conversations sessions per month, one of which is an intergenerational collaboration with Sweet Readers, a New York based non-profit that pairs middle school student readers with seniors with dementia. Sweet Readers provides the training for the student facilitators in how to speak about the pieces and relate to the senior audience.[8]

During the 90-minute program itself, each student is paired with a senior couple and the students take an active role in engaging their partners in the discussion. During the session I attended, the senior participants were split into three different rooms, according to their artist preference (Monet, Pissaro, Sisley). Each room was assigned a pair of students. During the program, I observed one pair of students actually leading their groups’ observation and discussion of the paintings, and two other pairs facilitating the seniors’ participation by asking leading questions and providing their own answers to help spark connections for the seniors. 

Derya Samadi, the director of Conversations, encourages the students to take an active role, for example, asking the intergenerational groups to compose a poem collaboratively. During the session I observed, one group composed a haiku in response to depictions of trees in their painting. The students then read the haiku to the full group when they all gathered back together at the end of the program to discuss their observations. Samadi suggests that the Sweet Readers’ 6^th-8^th grade age bracket makes them particularly effective facilitators for the seniors, as they have an appropriate level of maturity and empathy, but are not yet distracted by the concerns that come with high school.[9]

Currently, the intergenerational component of the Conversations program is limited to seniors with early stage dementia, though Samadi notes that she is eager to extend the intergenerational participation to the versions of the program for seniors with late stage dementia as well. The intergenerational version of Conversations has been extremely successful thus far, as can be seen by the high proportion of senior “regulars,” and the low proportion of student regulars. The program is such a popular volunteer option at local schools Holton Arms and Langdon that there is a line to participate all year long.[10]

The Conversations program is held at the Kreeger Museum on the 2^nd and 3^rd Mondays of each month (except for August) at 10:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.  The program is free, but reservations are required. Call 202-337-3050, ext. 10. For more information on the Conversations program, click here.

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[1] Erikson, Erik. (1963). Childhood and Society, 2^nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 247-274.

[2] Hopkins, George. “How Important are Intergenerational Programs in Today’s Schools?” Phi Delta Kappan 82. 4 (Dec. 2000): 317-319.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Hoban, Sandra. “An Intergenerational Debut at the Art Gallery.” Nursing Homes. 53, 12. (Dec 2004): 34-36.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Samadi, D. (Nov. 5 2012). Personal interview.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.