From the moment we are born we all have one thing in common. No matter where you are born, what era you are born into, whether you are born into a rich family or a poor family, we all begin aging the moment we are brought into this world.
As we age and mature, we learn new things, and our life experiences, environment, and education shape our ideas about who we are and how we relate to the world.
There are points in our life cycle where we are active and engaged, and other points where we may be a bit more inactive or isolated. Our ideas of what it means to age are informed by our experience in the world, by our culture, and by the people in our lives who have been our aging role models. All of this influences how we feel about our current age, our past and future ages, and the ages of other people.
In this topic you will:
- Identify what “aging” means to you
- Understand a wide variety of different points of view between three generations and within each
By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:
- Recognize and name your own feelings about aging
- Reflect on how these feelings might inform how you see the older adults you serve
- Identify common characteristics of your program participants
- Understand the need to not stereotype generations
- Stop seeing older adults as something “other”
We all have more in common than you might imagine. After all, we are all in the “aging club!”