by Akhilesh Mittal

Created on: March 17, 2009   Last Updated: March 20, 2009

How to kill two birds with the same stone? Blend Day care and elder care into one wonderful solution!

Young, Youth and Elderly define human kind. Young and Elderly both need care, either at home or at a care center. When love at home is replaced by service at care center, life may become monotonous and boring. Primary responsibility at both Day Care and Elderly Care centers is to take care of the young and the elderly respectively. However, bringing these two services together may add so much more value. Elderly can impart their knowledge to the young and young can bring back the youth in elderly.

Providing care and spending time is at the core of both day care and elderly care centers. However, there is a direct contrast in the way time is spent in both the places. In day care one needs to indulge the children in playful activities and in elderly care one needs to engage in activities through which time can be spent. What if we put the elderly and the children in one place? Children can learn from the knowledge of the elderly and elderly will feel playful and cheeryin the company of the young.

I have observed one thing at my own home. When my parents and my in-laws are with their grandchildren it makes them abundantly happy. They like spending time with them. The same goes for the grandchildren as well. They will not only be playing with their children but would also try to make them learn different things. Alphabets and numbers if they are very young and poems if they are a bit grown up. Children also enjoy it as they have someone to whom they can recite the same after learning it. If our elderly took good care of us when they raised us, I am pretty sure that they can do a wonderful job with our children. This idea of elderly taking care of the young is just an extension to the thought grandparents take good care of their grandchildren.

The idea to bring both these services will still need operational support from the youth. Both the young and the elderly need care. Young need to be fed, and need supervision. Elderly are no different from young when it comes to care. Care will become less imposing when the people being cared for are joyfully engaged in the tasks they love to do. Young are playing and learning and growing up mentally. Elderly are teaching and observing the fountain of youth and are growing younger themselves at heart. A win-win situation for everyone!

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