The following article, Joint Day Care for Young and Old, appeared on
the op-ed page of The Wall Street Journal, issue dated December 31,
1986. It is as relevant today as when it was first published.
The author, Tara McLaughlin, was a former day-care administrator in
Washington, D.C. and, at the time of the publication, a research
associate with the Urban Ethnic Research Program at Arizona State
University, Tempe, Arizona. I was preparing my first edition of grandpa
stories and Ms McLaughlin kindly gave me permission to include her
article.
I believe the article deserves wide dissemination to care centers for all
age groups, schools, senior centers, retirement residential communities,
health care institutions, and other places, especially to where young and
old gather or reside.
***
Joint Day Care for Young and Old
(With the author's permission.)
One evening after work, my husband and I picked up our three children
from their day-care center, and we all went to get her great-grandmother
at hers. As we entered the adult center, we were struck by the immediate
outpouring of love from the elderly to our children.
The day-care adults spontaneously asked questions, and our children,
delighted with having an audience, embraced and talked with their
newfound friends. As any parent will attest, children and grandparents
are allies, because the elderly have the perspective to realize that when a
five-year old girl says she wants to be a ballerina, it does not necessarily
preclude the possibility that she will become a nuclear physicist. The
great expectations of exuberant and excited kids need to be encouraged
by attentive adults. A child's special plans or ideas don't always keep on
hold until after dinner. And, too, our raucous eight-year old son is never
more attentive and loving than when he is with his great-grandmother.
She, in turn, cherishes the time with him as she would a special gift.
Because over 50% of mothers work and many grandparents cannot
remain at home all day without assistance, the time for wouldn't-it-be-
nice-if kind of talk has clearly passed. Broader social issues are really
the roots here. Why are we segregating these two groups in the first
place? Our elderly are feeling they are being shuffled off to homes, and
young people are growing up without the benefit of elderly role models.
This is a society where most mothers work and most children don't live
close to grandparents. Dual day-care is a simple, loving solution to this
separation of the generations.