This week I found an incredible video: It’s a short clip of a new television show coming out at the end of August on the ABC called Old People’s Home for 4-Year-Olds. It came from a British show with the same premise and the previews are just so heart-warming. Watching this video got me thinking about ageing, the younger generations and how we are so different and yet remarkably similar.

In this time that we live in, we fight to not age. We remember our youth, perhaps ‘the good old days’ and we don’t necessarily enjoy getting older. But I want to reassure you. Aging is beautiful. I know so much more about life than I did when I was 25, or even 40. This ability to age is dusted with so much more than I could ever imagine.

I have gained wisdom by soaking up the world around me. I know many of you reading may not be my age… and many of you may be on the way. I know there are young mothers reading this and much of the beauty of this community is our differences.

But this focus and the story that comes from this video is about the bond I know between a grandparent and a grandchild or more broadly the interacts between the much younger and older generations. It is special, it is one that I cherish, and I know that other grandparents share the same feelings. This bond between young and old is special because it combines two things that we as humans thrive on. Wisdom and Storytelling.

Wisdom

Wisdom is something we gain through experience, it is something you share, it is something that you grow into. ‘He is wise beyond his years’/ ‘Her wisdom is her beauty’. I have heard many people I cherish speak of wisdom and how they know it is accumulated it is simply not presented to you all at once.

It is true, wisdom is something characteristic of someone older but it is absolutely wonderful when we see a wise child. One who has been parented incredibly well and has eyes for the world that see everything at once in their own beautiful way. They have a deep ability to comprehend instructions and emotions and show kindness to everyone. Know a little one like this? I’m sure you do. We often refer to them as ‘old souls’. There is this sense of knowing that they hold that can be mystifying.

The incredible effect on seeing young children and the older generation interact in this video shows wisdom. It is in the faces of the adults who realise how much being around these children can change their attitudes and ideas about life. There is so much joy that wisdom brings.

Storytelling

Storytelling is something that captures us, it is one of the core building blocks of society. As a child, I understood the power of story and struggled through to read and understand stories on my own. Now, as I have the opportunity to listen to a child’s first words which quickly develops into long-winded stories of how their days unfolded is simply breath-taking. Children are so very beautiful and raw and unaffected by other’s opinions. There is so much the older generation can relearn from young people. We have lived longer lives, but not the same lives. Everyone has a new and exciting story to tell.

Storytelling is much more than reading. It is about sharing. When we share about each other, through a story, we grow, and we learn and we become better.

The part in the video that highlights the sadness that comes with old age is part of their story. But immediately it is interrupted by the children singing. I think it’s so clear in this documentary that the benefits of being with each other are how lives are made better through the mixing of young and old. We don’t need a TV program to show us that, but it certainly is going to be something that is worthwhile. This article is not an endorsement of any kind; just a recommendation. I’m going to take a peak at the show in a few weeks’ time and I’m looking forward to see what the producers have created.

I hope you enjoy the clip below.

Blessings,

Susanna

#littlemiraclescommunity