What is the aging process, ageism phenomenon and why I decided to make a point about it? Why is it in our great interest to prepare a curriculum regarding age to educate our children starting as early as preschool kids.

The ‘ageism’ derived from established social norms regarding age, is based on the formulation that the aging process of society is a homogeneous and convergent process for each individual. Therefore, it assumes that chronological, functional and social age coincide.

Why is it so important to talk about it, to introduce this topic to our kids and make them clear that aging is a natural and extremely ‘precious’ period of our life and respect is the most significant human behavior in any interpersonal, social communication and relation.

The first definition, together with the name of the phenomenon of ageism, was introduced and disseminated exactly 50 years ago – in 1969, by American psychiatrist and geriatrician Robert Butler. It was based on the assumption that due to the phenomenon obvious to the human life cycle, which is aging, the process of constant stereotyping and the presence of a discrimination mechanism is widely observed.

Ageism, i.e. stigmatizing old age, uses devices similar to racism and sexism, especially in highly developed western countries: first of all, generalizing and commonly creating stereotypes describing seniors, which lead to capturing not individuals and singularities, but to categorizing and sorting, according to the created cliché. This is a huge threat in times of ubiquitous globalization, not only for seniors but also for society understood as a whole, regardless of gender, creed or ethnicity.

Especially in times of crisis and recession, prejudice and discrimination based on old age can add up to those based on gender, origin, prestige, social status and have dramatic effects.

The question is: How should we talk to our children and explain the aging process to them, to avoid negative and cruelly real consequences of ageism for mental and physical health? To lower the effects of ageism such as loss of will to live, slow recovery after trauma or illness, lack of motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle, stress, and in extreme cases even undiagnosed depression and shortening of vitality in seniors.

We should talk to our children about it to prepare them for this process as well, to make it feel natural, to promote positive attitudes towards elderly people and help them understand the necessities that this age brings, that sometimes are difficult to cope with for many different reasons. 

One great option is the book mode to introduce this theme. I chose some titles I think they are super valuable:

“The Tide”

“Grandmas are for giving tickles”

We should teach our children that getting old doesn’t always mean being sick and hopeless. Aging comes also with the potential for a good half condition, creativity, and activities, and the situation they will find themselves depends mostly on which lifestyle choices they will adapt to during the lifespan.

Devaluation of old age, the representation of young and old as separate social units and even rivals deepens growing social inequalities, isolation, self-isolation associated with a decline in the self-esteem of an elderly person caused by prejudices and the use of discriminatory labels, unemployment, and impoverishment – primarily emotional and cultural. How poor we would become without our seniors among us!?

The reason why the widespread dissemination of ‘anti-ageism’ awareness and the promotion of old age as a natural and socially significant phenomenon in the biological course of human life, which is experienced by a large majority of us in connection with the age shift of mortality, is so important that WHO briefly included several key points published in 2012 on the occasion of the International Health Day:

“* The number of people aged 60 and more has doubled since 1980.

 * The number of people aged 80 will almost quadruple to 395 million to date by 2050.

 * Over the next five years, the number of adults aged 65 and older will exceed the number of children under 5 years old.

 * By 2050, the number of older people will exceed the number of all children under the age of 14.

 * Most older people live in low- or middle-income countries. By 2050, this figure will increase to 80%. “

What we should do as parents?

Definitely promote healthy aging and healthy lifestyle, promote positive and correct attitudes regarding our seniors, in family and beyond. It doesn’t mean we should talk about illness, disability, and death! We should present the aging process as a natural and unavoidable part of our life that makes it so important to be prepared for and to be conscious about.