By Marjorie A. Gordon-DeLee (December 2, 2018)
Our Senior Citizens (age range 1946 to 1964) has extended their work life due to many reasons. From an inability to retire due to financial instability; to a desire to remain an active member of society in the workforce. Because the Senior Citizens have been focusing more on establishing a healthier lifestyle and there is the longer life expectancy for Senior Citizens, this has afforded them the opportunity to remain active members of society much longer in life. Many Senior Citizens in which I have been in conversations with over the years have stated that they have no desire to retire anytime soon. I can certainly attest to that as being a part of this Baby Boomer age as well.
In an examination of the literature, the findings revealed that “Older workers take increasingly diverse paths to retirement. Fewer older workers are transitioning directly from full-time work to full-time retirement. Many workers transition to part-time positions with their current employer or a new one, while others become self-employed (Collins, and Casey, 2017).”
Thus, it is advantageous for the Workforce to embrace the education, wisdom acquired and the many years of experiences that the older generation brings to the Workforce. It is the accumulation of experiences that can provide a wide range of solutions to problems based upon a synthesis of yesterday and today’s world. Our younger generation needs to have those resources that the older generation can offer them.
The older generation can also remain active contributing to the younger generations as a Mentor. To those children who are not as fortunate in receiving the resources that are accessible to the more elite group of children. Being a mentor to children who are impeded by poverty and thereby not having the resources accessible to them to help them succeed in life will help the children significantly as well as the older generation who, many are eager to give of themselves.
Research conducted has revealed the follow information from Stanford Center on Longevity:
The Stanford Center on Longevity, Encore.org and the Packard Foundation sponsored the report, “Hidden in Plain Sight: How Intergenerational Relationships Can Transform Our Future.”
The document describes widening socioeconomic and educational gaps among young people in the U.S., bringing to light a critical need for society to focus on ways to help vulnerable young men and women.
“A large proportion of youth lack the resources needed for success, their educational pathways and well-being impeded by poverty, perpetuating an ever-deeper gulf between those who succeed in life and those who struggle,” the report stated.
The opportunity exists for older adults to fill these mentoring roles, Carstensen said. Children now in grade school will grow up in societies filled with old people. “Most children – not just a lucky few – will grow up in families in which four or five generations are alive at the same time,” she said.
Young adults require emotional skills to succeed in life, Carstensen said. These are the attitudes, behaviors and strategies required to operate as a productive adult in an increasingly complex and technical world. And they are the types of skills and experiences that older adults have in abundance due to their life experiences.
“These skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and social interaction, influence social connections and sense of purpose. They are key to success in school and work, and they enable people to contribute meaningfully to society,” the report noted.
Parents matter, of course, but the research shows that significant benefits exist for children who have an older adult mentor in addition to their parents, Carstensen said.
“Age-related increases in wisdom, life experiences and emotional stability are well-documented, as is a drive to give to others in a meaningful way,” she said (Parker, 2016).
Older adults can share many of the foundational values and skills that these children can use to help them learn the basics in planning their lives step by step from year to help. Knowing these valuable skills will enable the child to have a better opportunity to be successful in life.
These children must understand the value of obtaining an education and how education can have a large impact on ultimately where they end up in life and also in the choices they make as well.
The impact that a mentor has on a child is shared below:
Mentoring has significant positive effects on two early warning indicators that a student may be falling off-track:
High levels of absenteeism (Kennelly & Monrad, 2007)
Students who meet regularly with their mentors are 52% less likely than their peers to skip a day of school and 37% less likely to skip a class. (Public/Private Ventures Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters)
Recurring behavior problems (Thurlow, Sinclair & Johnson, 2002)
Young adults who face an opportunity gap but have a mentor are 55% more likely to be enrolled in college than those who did not have a mentor. (The Mentoring Effect, 2014)In addition to better school attendance and a better chance of going on to higher education, mentored youth maintain better attitudes toward school. (The Role of Risk, 2013) (Mentor)
Children living in low income areas of poverty simply need to talk with successful people who know the way and can merely give them insight to help them along the way:
An article in The Atlantic on the topic of Mentoring comments on the importance of children talking to a successful person who can make a difference in their life.
If you talk to successful people about what made a difference in their lives, "it often comes down to the involvement of a caring adult over time and during critical moments," said the University of Massachusetts at Boston psychology professor Jean Rhodes, one of the nation's leading experts on mentoring. Mentoring sometimes involves helping you "figure out what you want to do with your life … who are the people who will help you get there … and how do you connect with them (Gordon, 2016).”
Moreover, the reason I spent so much time in academia working in the public-school system at Harlyeville-Ridgeville High School, at Webster University, and at Palmetto Goodwill in the Career Opportunity Center (aka, Job Link Center) working with the young people because it gave me the greatest joy to impart my knowledge into the children who was receptive to all that I had to say.
Going to the public schools to provide training on what the needed in preparing for a job interview and job searches was valuable information to the students who shared their honest appreciation to me.
They were always eager to learn and valued my input. There is not greater joy than to give something to someone who values your input. These young people were teachable. If a person is not teachable, they will not use the information that you want give them. I value my time working with the young people and the who desperately need it now more than anytime during my lifetime.
The children who are in the poverty-stricken areas are hungry for someone to give then attention and show them how much you care for them because many do not receive lots of undivided attention from their parents because of the parent’s stressors with financial issues. Therefore, when an adult provides quality information to help them as I always placed much emphasis on gaining an education and letter the you people know that knowledge was power and with knowledge no one could ever take it away from them. That was ingrained in my from my many years ago in elementary school. That is why I have made every attempt to learn as much as I could so that I would become well educated.
Reference
Collins, S. M. and Casey, R. P. Jr. (2017). American’s Aging Workforce Opportunities and Challenges; Special Committee on Aging U S Senate. Executive Summary. Retrieved December 2, 2018 from https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Aging%20Workforce%20Report%20FINAL.pdf
Gordon, L. (2016). Mentoring’s Promise and Limits. Retrieved December 2, 2018 from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/12/why-some-mentors-fail/510467/
Mentor. (n.d.) Mentoring Impact. Retrieved December 2, 2018 from https://www.mentoring.org/why-mentoring/mentoring-impact/
Parker, C. B. (2016). Older people offer resources that children need, Stanford report says. Retrieved December 2, 2018 from https://news.stanford.edu/2016/09/08/older-people-offer-resource-children-need-stanford-report-says/
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