There are more than 60 million grandparents in the United States and
their numbers are increasing as a portion of the general population.
Enormous changes have taken place in longevity and lifestyles since
today's older adults were, themselves, young grandchildren. Experts
estimate that there are thirty to fifty thousand living centenarians, up
from the 1980 estimate of fifteen thousand. Also, centenarians are not as
feeble as they once were; disability rates among older people have been
falling since the early 1980s.
Life expectancy at birth in the United States has increased nearly 30
years since the turn of the century, from 47 to about 76. On the other
hand, families are more widely dispersed, successful interaction by
grandparents with their distant grandchildren, whether for geographic
reasons or barriers of circumstance, increasingly calls for innovation and
improvisation.
A vast store of practical knowledge as well as a culture's lore languishes
in almost every family, especially among its elders, more than ready to be
passed along to succeeding generations. An important source for ideas
and models for grandparents to meet the needs-and the yearnings-of this
era's grandchildren and children generally are in the observations and
experiences of older adults. It is not up to our young grandchildren to
say what in our life's experiences might be useful or enlightening to
them? If it was up to them, how might they draw it out of us? A
paradox indeed.
This is not a child's storybook, although some of the stories, vignettes
and essays may interest youth from toddlers to young adults and, from
other perspectives, parents, grandparents, and teachers. The book's intent
is to demonstrate one older lay person's approach to fostering interaction
between generations in the context of family, school and culture.