Mutually Beneficial Education

When my kids were at kindergarten, one of their highlights of the term was to practice songs and then go on a ‘class trip’ – a walk to a local rest home and sing to the residents for the morning. I accompanied several of these trips and it seemed it was a real win-win; both the children and the elderly residents seemed to love to entertain and be entertained, and to get together afterwards to chat.

For some of the children without grandparents alive or living nearby, they were able to learn from the residents and for the older people, the chance to mingle with an energetic bunch of children was a real breath of fresh air.

Recently, the Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA) has formed a relationship with Metlifecare that aims to bring together the young and old to learn together, when children from a number of AKA Kindergarten sites will meet with residents from various Metlifecare Retirement Villages.

Tanya Harvey, from AKA, says:  “We’re extremely thrilled to announce this exciting partnership. As an organisation, we’re focussed on providing the children that attend our kindergartens with interactive learning experiences that will enrich their lives forever.”

Research around intergenerational education, has shown that it offers a lot of benefits – to both children and elders, improving the quality of life for everyone involved.

“For the children specifically, we expect many will gain more of an understanding of our elders, bring a sense of fun and enjoyment to the people they meet, improve their self-esteem, develop friendships in a safe environment and enhance social skills.

“We also expect Metlifecare residents to benefit from the experience. Developing new friendships with the children will help alleviate loneliness, giving them something to look forward to each week while providing opportunities to experience fun and laughter, to be young again, to share their skills and expertise and to be more physically active.”

Jim Battersby has spearheaded this agreement has been a long and fulfilling one not only for him, – for the past three years, he has been a loyal companion at the Roskill South Kindergarten. Jim’s wanted other residents to experience the friendship and fun that he continues to enjoy and it inspired Metlifecare to formalise an agreement with AKA.

Metlifecare’s CEO Glen Sowry says: “We’re delighted to partner with Auckland Kindergarten Association to build on the wonderful relationships that have grown between our residents and preschools in their communities. We’re committed to creating opportunities that enable residents to lead full, varied lives.”