WHAT IS A GRANDBUDDY PROGRAM?
“When the old are not allowed to tell their story, the young grow up without history. If the young are not listened to, we have no future.”
Dr. Gunhild O. Hagestad
A Grandbuddy Program initiated by a long term care facility and an elementary school can create golden moments two generations. When a student and an older adult first realize that the other person, once a total stranger, is now important to them the relationship then starts to “matter”. The building of relationships do not just happen when two people are just put together. They require careful planning, time over the course of at least ten months of interaction and an understanding of one another. Residential patterns, activities and institutions such as schools and long term care facilities for the elderly lead to further segregation. Stereotypes flourish under conditions of inadequate contact and knowledge reinforced through the segregation of youth and elderly.
The goal of the Grandbuddy Program is not only for the students and older adult to learn from one another but through shared experiences and regular contact attitudes are changed. This holds true for influencing students’ attitudes toward “old people” living in a long term care.
The Grandbuddy Program involves intergenerational activities that promote cooperation, learning, and positive exchanges and interactions between two generations. The program purposely brings youth and seniors together to achieve specific program goals.
Benefits for the Senior Grandbuddy include:
- Staying involved in their community
- Improved life satisfaction
- Enhanced self –esteem
- On-going skill development
- Feeling of continued usefulness in the community
- An opportunity to engage in life-long learning
- A chance to give back to their community
- The chance to share their life experiences and knowledge
- To provide an informed knowledge base about youth today
- Development of friendship
Benefits for the Junior Grandbuddy include:
- Development of healthy attitudes towards aging
- Students will learn the concept of aging, disabilities, and losses associated with the aging process
- Improved self-esteem
- A strengthened sense of community and social responsibility
- Promotion of culture, heritage and history
- Breaking down of stereotypes about older adults and replacing with more informed understanding of aging
- Development of friendship
Grandbuddy Program 