By Debra Herndon
In our modern society children often seem disconnected from the older people in their lives and older people often seem out of touch with the lives of the younger ones. If you are the filling in the sandwich generation, parents who are lucky enough to still have YOUR parents, here are some fun activities to bridge the generation gap.
- Ask your Mom to write out several pages of her most important memories in cursive. Then, (when your child is asleep, of course) steal your ‘tween’s phone. Tell her she can have it back when she can read Grandma’s letter in full out loud to you.
- Tell little Bobby that Grandpa has started using a plethora of emojis and may sully the family name if someone doesn’t educate him on what those fruits and vegetables represent. Ask Bobby to create a set of flash cards and work with Grandpa on this. This will not only strengthen their bond but will also will bring out Bobby’s creative skills.
- Establish a reasonable hourly rate for having your kids set up Grandmas electronics and explain to the child that actually teaching Grandma HOW to use the devise will actually take more time and, therefore will result in more pay. This will be a valuable lesson in economics. Of course, then, YOU’LL have to pay for the same service, because you know you have them setting up this stuff for you.
- Play a game of “Darned if I Know.” Ask both your children and your parents to bring an item to dinner that the other generation might not recognize. If not guessed immediately, allow 5 yes or no questions to be asked. This will introduce the grandparents to new concepts and products and allow the child to develop deduction reasoning skills – assuming they don’t just take a picture of the thing and ask the AI on their phone to identify it.
- Have little Jenny explain to Grandma why becoming an influencer is a GREAT career choice, then have Grandma explain why learning shorthand would serve Jenny well over her lifetime.
