by Bobby Coles

Created on: March 18, 2009   Last Updated: May 11, 2012

The Sandwich Generation is responsible for the dependency load in today's society. The working class is not only raising children, but they are also taking care of their aging baby-boom parents. If day care and elder care could be brought together, both would benefit greatly. Day care and elder care are not necessarily all that different. Both groups require socialization skills and reminders, structured activities, naps, meals, and friendship.

Merging together day care and elder care would produce wonderful results for both spectrums of the age gap. These two essential services could potentially have life altering impacts upon one another. The benefits of bringing together these two are vast. Due to the many similarities between both elder care and day care, the services could be streamlined more efficiently, bringing an ease in service delivery.

Despite the noticeable age difference and life experience, the elders could provide wisdom and knowledge for the day care children, and the children could provide fun, spontaneity, happiness and laughter for the elderly. The day care would serve almost as a fountain of youth for the elderly to come and drink from on a daily basis. The elderly would benefit from the mental stimulation, and they could help out the day care providers with sheer volume of numbers. Acting as volunteers, the elderly would be able to complete many of the daily duties, free of charge, to the children. These two services should be brought together, since they would fit like a glove.

If day care and elder care could co-exist harmoniously, the benefits reaped by both parties would be phenomenal. Bridging the gap between these two diverse age groups might be far more feasible than fathomable. These two essential life services represent both ends of the life spectrum. Children are the replacements of the elderly, and need to soak up the wisdom learned from a lifetime of living.

Young children and the elderly both require a lot of assistance with daily tasks, and they are somewhat similar in many regards. Both services at times need help with toileting and feeding, and garnering a sense of belonging. While the toileting concerns may be slightly different, they are somewhat similar. In terms of feeding, other than dietary concerns from both age groups, both groups could eat together. Proper nutrition is vital for both age groups, and a structured routine for meal time is necessary. Mealtime is an essential time in the day, and should be spent in

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>