Old codger or mentor?

Question

Not all elderly people are senile or semi-literate; most old people have a lot of experience which they could share to the benefit of youngsters and many are highly educated and could teach a lot, given the opportunity.
Now-a-days elderly members of our western society are not held with the same esteem as their forebearers. Just the opposite they are often ridiculed or rudely ignored.
What would you suggest to remedy this, bearing in mind that we will all be old one day (if we survive)?

Answer 1

I work with the elderly. Senile? Semi illiterate? Not where I am. They are a fountain of information. Thr treatment of the elderly in this country is shameful. Volunteering is a good place to start.

Answer 2

I would recommend that we open our minds to be more accepting of all differences. Some of us our older, some of us are gay, some of us come from far away, and some of us like to dress up in drag. Our outer appearance, our age, our ethnicity should not be used to discount us.
Many older people are very wise and have much to teach us younglings. Yes there are a few older people who have become cranky and reluctant to take to changes at work -just as there are many irresponsible younglings.
As for a remedy, for one, mandatory retirement is being removed. Most aren't taking advantage of it, but a few are and this will help younglings gain exposure to the elderly and realize that they have much to offer.
We need to include the elderly in our social lives and social programs more. They have so much wisdom to offer that is wasted. Most are potential mentors with a couple of codgers thrown in there to spice things up

Answer 3

EXPERIENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER. There are 2 ways to learn. A quick, and safe way to learn is from experience. Other way to learn is by burning hands. There is a lot to learn
from the elderly population. They can adopt to teach our
children as well as the growing adults.
A retired teacher from a school, an retired engineer from a factory, a retired manager from industry or a retired salesman from marketing is a treasure house of information.

Answer 4

Some of those old codgers should actually be looking to pass on their knowledge by TEACHING it at night school. They won't make a whole lot of money, but teaching students skills that THEY WANT TO LEARN goes a long way to making those old codgers feel useful.

In Toronto where I live the night school courses are run by the Dept of Parks and Recreation, so it would be those people that should be approached to arrange to teach your skills.

Answer 5

We need to start giving our elderly friends the respect that they deserve. They are very wise and know exactly what they are talking about. That is what is wrong with a lot of young people today. They have no respect for there elders and do not listen when they are trying to teach them something.

Answer 6

those of us with experience are more than willing to give the youngsters advice. I was given the assignment of teaching the new manager my techniques. however, rather than caring about the people under him he liked to be the hard nosed executive type who gave orders and let the people do the work while he sat in the office. tried to tell him you need to care about your people and let them know they can rely on you to fill in whenever needed. after a year understand there are employment problems.

Answer 7

I'm afraid that there are no remedies to fix this. The society we live in is influenced by the media. And the media, especially television, doesn't portray elders as people who should be shown respect.

Answer 8

The way I look at it, being retired from a very difficult industry, is if they want to know, they know where to find me. I'm not volunteering for anyone because they won't listen. Why should they? I was the same way when I first got into this industry.

Answer 9

Just remember how old they look and how old they are inside are very different. When I take care of the elderly I often ask how old they are inside so I know who I'm talking to.