Press Room

An Intergenerational Approach to Child Care:
A Challenge During the International Year of Older Persons
by Mel Shipman

A Society for All Ages – the theme of the current celebrations of the International Year of Older Persons (IYOP) – represents a a significant departure from the thematic focus usually associated with celebrations saluting the lives, contributions and needs of older adults.. Traditionally, such celebrations have tended to focus on the specific life patterns of the elderly and on social issues and concerns that bear exclusively on their own well-being. The shift to a focus on A Society for All Ages by the organizers of IYOP is thus a welcome development. It opens the door to cross-generational participation and to closer appraisal of how old and young can help each other. This represents a wonderful opportunity for professionals in the field of early childhood education to reach out to the large and growing seniors' community. Here are four reasons why they should accept and embrace this challenge.

The Needs of Children
The link between child development theory and the value of involving caring older adults in the lives of young children is described in a clear and readable fashion by Marsha Crites (1989). Drawing on the work of Jean Piaget (1969), Margaret Mead (1972), and Erik Erikson (1963 and 1968) and integrating their theories with the reality of modern family life, Crites makes a strong case for intergenerational programs that can respond to "the social isolation experienced by today's children as a result of demographic, economic and social changes."

These changes, Crites explains, have created a life pattern in which increasingly, children grow up in tiny, mobile families in which almost half of all children born in the United States in the 1980s "will spend a part of their lives in single parent households." Children, she points out, are also less likely to live near grandparents and other relatives and, with most mothers now in the work force, "fewer adults are available to care for children and provide the kind of activities that nurture child development."

Nurturing child development in a social environment of empty family microsystems is very difficult, Crites contends, particularly compared to households in which children grow up "amidst a diverse set of relationships spanning age groups, generations, and backgrounds." In these latter households, children "enjoy a special developmental and social opportunity."

Crites' analysis and her proposal to mobilize the energies of the community, particularly older adults, on behalf of younger families in need resonate with those of us who have seen, first-hand, the benefits of intergenerational programs. In many respects, such programs replace, through organized surrogate relationships, the extended family and neighbourhood support systems that were the social norm in most American and Canadian communities before the Second World War.

We all know that babies need sensory stimulation, opportunities to interact with objects and people, and positive verbal and physical reinforcement. We also know that, in their preschool years, children need an outlet for active play and opportunities for growth through the accomplishment of small tasks such as dressing, brushing teeth, drawing, riding a tricycle or building a simple structure out of blocks or modeling clay. Older men and woman can make excellent supportive caregivers either in the home or in child care centres. They can provide the laps, hugs, stimulation and tender loving care that can make the critical difference to the thousands of babies and preschoolers involved in the child care network. Moreover, the benefits to both young and old are reciprocal. This reciprocal relationship is clearly described by Barbara Bryson (1991), the former coordinator of intergenerational programming for Day Care Connection in Toronto:

A major goal ... is to develop a caring, sharing community in which the two generations can benefit from each other. The seniors who have become involved feel that they are important, contributing members of society. Children, in turn, find that contact with their surrogate grandparents enriches their lives and introduces them to relationships that many of them don=t have in their own family circles.

Crites, Bryson, and other members of the intergenerational program community appear to share Hillary Clinton's contention that "it takes a village to raise a child." The International Year of Older Persons should provide early childhood educators with the incentive and opportunity to apply this concept in their own professional environments.

The Older Adult Perspective

Before embarking on outreach activity to the older adult community, child care providers would do well to consider the intergenerational issue from the perspective of the older participant. An article by Reville (1989), written as a companion piece to Crites' exposition of the developmental needs of children, will serve as the basic reference text for a similar analysis of the sociopsychological needs of the elderly.

Drawing on the work of Butler and Lewis (1973), Reville states that it is essential "for the old to have contact with the young if they are to stay healthy in mind and spirit." She cites five characteristics of older people that require nurturing and support and, in each case, provides examples of intergenerational programs that, through interactive contact between old and young, contribute positively to the health of the elderly participants. I have taken the liberty of substituting Canadian programmatic experiences for the American references contained in Reville's text.

The "Elder" Function. Reville points out that "it is important to an older person's sense of self-esteem to be acknowledged by the young as an elder, to have one's life experience seen as interesting and valuable." The Volunteer Grandparent Society of British Columbia and the Family Service Association of Metropolitan Toronto both operate intergenerational programs that are outstanding examples of this kind of elder counselling and nurturing. In each case, the agencies recruit surrogate grandparents to become involved with young families that don't have linkages with grandparents of their own. Over time, many of these surrogate linkages take on all of the characteristics of traditional familial relationships and, in some instances, carry over intothe child's adolescence and beyond. Interviews with the volunteer grandparents invariably include expressions of personal fulfillment, examples of how their lives have changed and been enriched due to the increased feelings of self-esteem and the joy experienced from helping children and young parents in need.

Change in the Sense of Time. Reville suggests that "the elderly tend to experience a sense of immediacy, ... of living in the moment." The elemental things in life such as "children, plants, nature, human touching both physically and emotionally, colour and shapes" assume greater significance in old age. Is there a better place than in an intergenerational child care centre Reville asks, for seniors to focus on sensory awareness and enjoyment of the elemental things in life? Reville's question can be answered affirmatively by turning to a video produced by Day Care Connection in Toronto. I commend a viewing, by all ECE professionals, of this magnificent visual illustration of the joy and mutual affection generated by the interactions between the children and the seniors. Especially worthy of note, in the context of Reville's comments about the issue of immediacy in the lives of older people, are the comments of the senior participants. Every one of their remarks is a living testimony to the life-reinforcing quality of their volunteer experience.

Sense of the Life Cycle. Older people, says Reville, "experience something that younger people cannot: a personal sense of the entire life cycle." They also have "a capacity to summarize and comment upon one's own time and one's life." To illustrate how these attributes can express themselves intergenerationally, I will describe a project involving a grade 12 English class and a group of residents of a nearby home for the aged. The project's objective was to record and publish the life histories of the residents and, in the process, to provide the students with an opportunity to hone and improve their interviewing and writing skills and to learn something from the living histories of their senior partners. I was present at the final ceremony at which each student presented his or her senior partner with a bound and illustrated copy of his/her biography. What an emotional moment! There were hugs and tears and the cacophony of verbal interchange had an intense, warm quality that reflected the human bonding and friendships that had developed during the four months of regular contact and interchange. The richness of this kind of project was captured a few years later by the CBC in Winnipeg. It would be great if the Canadian Child Care Federation would encourage its members to apply this model to child care settings in which seniors could share "olden days" stories with the children. In the video Here We are Together, an elderly woman is seen serving tea to a group of four-year-old youngsters. She tells them how she enjoyed similar experiences with her grandmother and shows them her doll collection started when she was a little girl of the same age. The children are enthralled.

Creativity, Curiosity, and Surprise. These qualities, according to Reville, do not invariably decline with age. When older people continue to exhibit curiosity, creativity and an ability to be surprised, says Reville, they are very attractive to younger people who describe such older people "as lively, full of life, spry, bright-eyed and zestful." A wonderful illustration of all three qualities and the response of students to seniors who possess them can be found in a video produced by the Generation Connection Society in Vancouver, B.C. The focus of the video is on a set of interactions between a group of high school students and a group of seniors who are members of a musical ensemble. At the outset, the students are skeptical and even hostile but, before the first encounter is over, perceptions, attitudes and relationships begin to change. The students become very enchanted by the vibrant, down-to-earth and talented qualities displayed by these older people and, by the third session, one-on-one relationships start to develop and some fascinating personal and intimate exchanges begin to occur.

Sense of Consummation of Fulfillment in Life. Quoting Butler and Lewis, Reville says that a feeling of satisfaction with life is more common than recognized. Moreover, she continues, one's life does not have to be a "success" to result in satisfaction and serenity. These "can come from a feeling of having done one's best, from having met a challenge and difficulty, and sometimes from simply having survived against terrible odds." Over the years I have met many older people whose life trajectory has been difficult but who have come through as confident, caring and "together" individuals. In the video Between the Years, you can meet two of these wonderful people who have volunteered with the Toronto Intergenerational Partnerships. One is seen in a classroom working with immigrant children; the other is a mentor to a troubled youngster in a poor working-class neighbourhood. They provide a shining example of what, in Reville's words, a complete human being looks like in old age.

Demographics and Economics
From a human development perspective and the sociopsychological needs of children and older people, an intergenerational approach to child care makes eminent good sense. The children need help; the seniors can provide that help; and the two generations need each other. Let us now consider several other reasons, based on demographic and economic considerations, for encouraging a pro-active approach to intergenerational programming

The demographic argument is rooted in current family and social patterns The vast majority of women are now in the workforce, father-mother families depend on two-partner incomes, and with divorce rates nearing the 50 per cent level, many households with young children are headed by a single parent, usually the mother. According to Jane Beach et al. (1998), "in 1994-95, there were approximately three million children under the age of 12 whose parents worked or studied." While many of these parents, Beach reports, are able to arrange their working/study lives so as to provide exclusive care for their young children, about half (1.5 million) of these children are cared for through non-parental arrangements. Of these, says Beach, "some are cared for by relatives or siblings, while 1.1 million children...are in some form of non-relative, paid child care arrangement."

In analyzing these data, Beach suggests that, on the surface, it would appear that parents have many options and are relatively well-served. Such a conclusion, she contends, fails to take into account many of the below-the-surface problems that exist:

... programs are not evenly distributed across the country, the hours of care often do not coincide with parents' work schedules, parents may not be able to find the type of care they think best meets the needs of their child, or they may not be able to afford it. There is considerable evidence that parents often choose options based on cost and availability rather than the type of care they would ideally prefer... National studies have shown that many parents using unregulated arrangements would prefer regulated settings, while the reverse is not generally true.

The issue of regulated versus unregulated settings for child care is, in many respects, a significant marker for the real state of child care services in Canada. Here the statistics are startling: only 475,000 regulated child care spaces are currently available for the over 3,000,000 children under 12 with a mother in the labour force. Space availability also varies from province to province. In Newfoundland, for example, there are no regulated spaces for children under the age of two, and no regulated family day care at all. Moreover, the number of regulated spaces available does not necessarily reflect how many children are being cared for in these arrangements. In Alberta, for example, less than two-thirds of the spaces are occupied. It is, therefore clear, that from a demographic perspective, there is a substantial gap between the need for child care services and the services that are currently available.

Undoubtedly, this gap is a by-product of many factors, not the least of which are government policies focused more on downsizing and deficit reduction than on honouring declarative commitments to universal, quality and affordable child care. On the assumption that child care advocates will continue to press for implementation of these declarative commitments and that, over time, some positive results can be anticipated, it would behoove ECE professionals to consider soliciting support and participation from the older adult community.

In directing some of their energies to soliciting seniors= support and participation, it is useful to see how a mix of demographics and economics finds expression in the intergenerational program domain. First, let us look at the population and aging patterns that have emerged in the last 70 years. In 1921, five per cent of Canada=s population was aged 65 and over; by 1995, this percentage had increased to 12 and, according to Rosenthal (1998), will grow to 16 in 2015 and reach 23 per cent in 2041. This demographic explosion, she explains, is directly related to the pattern of increased life expectancy at birth which has occurred since 1921. For males it has jumped from 59 to 75 in 1992 and from 61 to 81 for women in the same 70-year period.

An interesting aspect of this greater longevity is noted by Rosenthal, namely, that 60 per cent of people born in 1960 will still have at least one aging parent by the time they reach the age of 50. This is almost double the situation at the turn of the 20th century. Her studies also show that there is a multidirectional flow of help within Canadian families between grown children and their elderly parents. It is significant that "older people tend to give more help than they receive." Why can't this willingness to help also be channelled to non-family members? The experience with intergenerational programs over the last 20 years is that when properly approached and when given interesting and meaningful responsibility, many seniors are willing to extend their within-family patterns to surrogate cross-generational relationships. Can you imagine the impact on child care services if only five per cent of Canada's current 3,000,000 seniors were recruited as volunteers on behalf of children in their infant to preschool years! While ECE professionals should continue to work for increased government support, higher standards of professional competence and more paid employment for trained caregivers, they should not lose sight of the older volunteer potential. There is no social agency in Canada that has ever been able to operate with paid professional staff alone. All of them have recognized the need to include a volunteer component in their economic operating equation. I believe it is time that agencies providing child care would begin to add this large untapped resource into their own operational and budgetary plans.

In posing this challenge, I am aware of the stresses and strains of daily child care operations. There is never enough time and never enough energy to cope with the constant demands of caring for the children, planning and executing stimulating programs, preparing meals, struggling with budgets and housekeeping chores, meeting with parents and all of the other myriad demands that surface during each and every working day. But these challenges are not unique to child care. They exist in schools, hospitals, shelters for battered women and cultural institutions such as public art galleries and museums. Many of these agencies have included a budgetary allocation for volunteer development. This same procedure was followed by Day Care Connection and the Family Service Association. When each of these agencies decided to launch a senior volunteer outreach program, they hired a special coordinator for this purpose. This investment was the key to their success. Should other child care centres consider following their example?.

Caring and Sharing
In my opinion, the latter question should be answered in the affirmative. But, before resting my case, let me close with a personal appeal that goes beyond the mix of instrumental, sociopsychological and economic benefits outlined to date.

My appeal is based on the conviction that intergenerational programming is a social imperative because of its potential contribution to a more caring and sharing social environment. While Canada qualifies as a civic society and our social safety net is one of the best in the world, in the current climate of corporate and government downsizing, continued high levels of unemployment, significant reductions in social services and a widening gap between rich and poor, a Alean and mean@ spirit is beginning to surface and contaminate the civic quality of personal and public life.

Intergenerational programming, in many respects, is an antidote to such civic contamination. Its very ethos is based on concern for the welfare of "the other." This ethos is reflected in the mission statement of United Generations Ontario, the "official voice" and coordinating centre for intergenerational programming in the province:

United Generations Ontario (UGO) is ... dedicated to promoting programs that bring
young and old together in a spirit of cooperation, mutual support, and shared affection
and regard. Our commitment is to empower people to create a vital volunteer exchange
in caring and sharing.

I heartily endorse this vision and, in so doing, I can=t resist declaring a strong personal bias, inspired by the ancient Jewish sage Hillel, who asked his fellow men to consider three basic questions:

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, who am I?
If not now, when?

The need for institutional commitment to intergenerational programming, therefore, goes beyond its instrumental and sociopsychological value. While mobilizing the energy of seniors in support of quality child care is a laudable end in itself, intergenerational programming merits institutional support because of its implications for promoting a caring, civic society.

Mel Shipman is director emeritus of United Generations Ontario and, until he retired in June 1998, was the founding executive director of the organization. A graduate engineer (McGill >46), he returned to school in his mid-50s to obtain a doctorate in education from the University of Toronto in 1984. A former businessman, school trustee, educator and community activist, his latest assignment is to set up a research unit on intergenerational programming.

References
Beach, Jane et al. (1988). Our Child Care Work Force: From Recognition to Remuneration. Ottawa: The Steering Committee for the Human Resource Study of Child Care in Canada.
Bryson, Barbara (1991). "Day Care Connection Launches Program in Seniors' Apartment Complex."
Between Generations. Toronto.
Crites, Marsha (1989). "Child Development and Intergenerational Programming." Intergenerational
Programs: Imperatives, Strategies, Impacts, Trends (Sally Newman, Steven Brummel Eds). New York: The Haworth Press.
Reville, Shari (19889). "Young Adulthood to Old Age: Looking at Intergenerational Possibilities From a Human Development Perspective." Intergenerational Programs: Imperatives, Strategies, Impacts, Trends (Sally Newman, Steven Brummel Eds). New York: The Haworth Press.
Rheaume, David (1991). Between the Years (Video).* Toronto: Government of Ontario.
Rosenthal, Carol (Dec.1998). "The Triumph of Old Age." Transition, Vol. 29, No. 4. The Vanier Institute of the Family: Ottawa.
The Generation Connection Society (1992). The Generation Connection (Video). Vancouver.
United Generations Ontario (1993). Mission Statement. Toronto.
Video Pulse Productions (1993). Here We Are Together (Video). Day Care Connection: Toronto.

* All videos may be obtained through United Generations Ontario, 1185 Eglinton Ave. E, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M3C 3C8. Phone (416) 426-7115; fax (416) 426-7388; e-mail lynda@intergenugo.org; website www.integenugo.org.