Outdoor recreation can help fill the generation gap.

The graying of America is well underway, as the over 65 population continues to grow at a rapid pace. As a result, more children than ever before will have the opportunity to know grandparents and great-grandparents. And, more than ever, there is a need to bring generations together with programs and activities that encourage mutual respect and understanding.

Many circumstances tend to limit intergenerational contact, including changing demographics, mobility, divorce, delayed childbirth, age-segregated activities, technological advances, the educational system, and stereotypes about aging. However, good programs bring together different age groups through educational, cultural, and recreational activities.

Generally, a generation is measured by the period of time equal to the average number of years between the birth of parents and their children's birth. The suggestion is somewhere between 25 and 33 years. The hereditary generations of child, parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. provide the opportunity for interaction between several different generations, or intergenerational interactions.

Current demographic data indicates that only 25% of the children born in 1900 had at least one grandparent alive. However, by 1976 this figure had risen to nearly two-thirds.

Intergenerational contact between grandparents (first generation) and grandchildren (third generation) most often occurs with the grandparents visiting their children and grandchildren (or vice-versa). On these occasions activities generally are spontaneous and unplanned. However, it is unlikely that activities will be designed to meet the interests of different generations. Instead, grandparents may take children to do something they think the children will want to do, regardless of their own interests or preferences. As a rule, an activity meeting the needs and interests of older adults likely would be boring and/or inappropriate for children. Designing activities that are enjoyable for two or more generations is challenging at best.

Interaction through intergenerational recreation programs to date have received little attention. In fact, in many instances, recreation programs have been designed to segregate children, teens, young adults, adults, and older adults.

These age-segregated programs especially have been evident in outdoor recreation and outdoor adventure programming. It seems highly unlikely that recreation professionals could offer a successful experience in canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, cycling, or any outdoor activities that would appeal to both 10-year-olds and senior citizens.

The limited mobility of young families, divorce, and busy family schedules all tend to limit availability of time for generations to gather. And when generations do get together, many of these encounters are less than enjoyable and enlightening for one or both generations.

Research shows that a common link between the young and the older adult is television, which acts as a common ground for awareness and discussion.

However, there is a great need to bring generations together in a climate that involves interaction which goes beyond television to foster a mutual understanding between young and old.

There have been numerous initiatives establishing intergenerational programs in recent years. Some current examples are the Foster Grandparent programs established to bring the older adult image to families lacking grandparents; the Adopt-A-Grandparent programs in which elementary school children visit nursing homes; the Intergenerational Paint-In, an art experience shared by fourth grade students, community artists, and seniors from a local residence in Baltimore; Team Work, which joins young people with a disability and older adults who act as their coaches; the Silver Threads among the Gold program, an intergenerational program bringing 9-12-year-olds into nursing homes in Saskatoon to participate with the residents in a planned recreation program; and grandparent and grandchildren summer camps such as the one established in the New York Adirondacks in 1988. Evidence suggests that these programs and others like them help to break down some of the perceived barriers between young and old.

The Benefits

In research on intergenerational programs the following benefits are reported:

* A significant positive change in the attitude of the generations toward each other.

* Children like the attention older people are willing to give them.

* Frequency of contact is important (more frequent, more enjoyment).

* Older adults are now reported to have higher levels of motivation, happiness, self-image, self-worth, confidence, health, and socialization.

* Younger people show an improved understanding and acceptance of older adults as well as higher levels of educational attainment.

The general goals of an intergenerational programs are listed in Table 1. As the table indicates, many of these goals are shared by both the older and younger generations. There is a mutual need for socialization, attention giving/receiving, skill development, and teaching. The physical domain is the only area in which there is a major difference in goals.

Shared experiences can help to bring about greater understanding of one another and help reduce confusion. Parents and grandparents indicate that "experience is more valuable than possessions" is the lesson they want young people to learn from outdoor activities.

Intergenerational Outdoor Recreation in Action

There is a wide diversity of successful outdoor programs. A program for grandparents and grandchildren is offered at Strathcona Park Lodge and Outdoor Education Centre in the mountains of Vancouver Islands. In this program, grandparents share learning experiences in natural history, expedition planning, and outdoor activities. Developing natural support is advocated through this program; and intergenerational teams share their strengths, test their potential, and realize their dreams through rope climbing, rappelling, and learning survival skills.

At Covecrest Retreat and Conference Center in Georgia, the expressed goal of the "experiencing Discovery with Mountain People" program is to "...stimulate and improve the bond between grandparents and grandchildren through the imaging of the historical and cultural challenges faced by the Cherokee and early settlers...."

The Pinegree Park Campus of Colorado State University brings together older adults and youth aged 10-12 in a program offering alpine skills and natural study. Hiking, rock climbing, and rappelling all are part of the experience. The participants are not necessarily related to one another.

Other programs include: canoeing (Cananonious Camp and Conference Center, Rhode Island); hiking (Squaw Valley Academy, California); orienteering (Denali National Park in Alaska); horseback riding (Rick's College, Outdoor Learning Center in the Teton Mountains); snorkeling (the Marine Resources Development Foundation at Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Florida); tracking animals, banding birds, examining ecology, strengthening bonds through an adventure ropes course, and folk dancing (Wolf Ridge Environment Learning Center on Lake Superior); and camping and fishing in the Big Horn Mountains (Northern Wyoming College).

Another program, Outdoor Study with Your Buddy, links retirees and their adult children 21 years of age and older.

The outdoor intergenerational experience also can be exotic. Trekking from Kashmir to Ladakh, a punishing climbing adventure brings the generations closer together. Working as a team and "suffering" the trials of such a trip as well as sharing the "joys" of accomplishment can lead to a great deal of intergenerational understanding.

It increasingly is common to find two or more generations of a family on wildlife safaris in Kenya, hiking to see the cloud forest of Costa Rica, sea kayaking in Belize, biking in Chile, swimming with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands, climbing the Himalayas, canoeing on the Nahanni River in the Northwest territories, whale watching off Vancouver Island, or following the original trail of an early explorer to learn history from a new perspective.

Planning Intergenerational Programs

Intergenerational programs broaden the opportunities for generations to engage simultaneously in creatively structured and well-organized programs. Grandparents and their grandchildren and older and younger adults can spend quality time together in environments that nurture and support the growing-together of generations through learning together. These types of programs stimulate and captivate the interest of both generations. Nature provides an outdoor classroom atmosphere that is far more attractive and conducive to learning activities than a typical classroom.

The generations need to spend quality time together in an environment that nurtures and supports growing and learning together. Older adults and children indeed may accomplish this bonding experience in another setting, such as a vacation on the coast or a camping experience in a state, provincial, or national park. However, organized intergenerational programs provide a supportive environment that broadens opportunities for generations to interact positively. The bonding experience virtually follows.

Wayne Hunt, director of Texas Elderhostel, has compiled a list of tips for individuals planning intergenerational programs:

* Bonding between generations occurs in direct proportion to the time they spend together. With continual or sustained interaction, mutual teaching and learning tend to happen. Separate activities often polarize age groups.

* Children are much more energetic than elderly adults. Daily breaks for the older adults, scheduled while the children are occupied other wise, is recommended.

* For most programs, staffing inevitably increases in an intergenerational program and increases exceptionally with each separation of the generations.

* Housing generations together is essential.

* The older adults need to be responsible primarily for children's behavior.

* Sometimes, the older adults who have not seen the children have no authority voice with them prior to the program. An innovative way to assure their authority is to send program "rules and regulations" to both the older adults and the parents of the children, encouraging the latter to review the rules with their children so that the older adults will be empowered with parental authority when the program begins.

* Supporting the family relations of grandparents and grandchildren helps to further understanding. In the grandparents' eyes, the grandchild can attain the new status of an intellectual being, and the grandparent can take on new meaning for the grandchild as a "walking encyclopedia."

The success of these programs signals a shift away from the stereotype of older adults as ill, inactive, bored, or incapable of learning. Through these opportunities participants interact with people who have very different insights and perspectives. Older adults are liberated from the limitations stereotypes place on them; and kids gain a lifelong respect for their elders. Both gain friendships, new ideas, and lots of fun.

PARTICIPANTS PRAISE INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAMS

Participants both young and old are quick to praise intergenerational programs. Many have been surprised about how much they learned and how much they enjoyed the company of individuals so different from themselves. However, the impression their new-found friends made on them likely will last a lifetime. Here is what a few intergenerational program vets have had to say:

* It was a new experience for both my grandchild and myself. In sharing activities and accommodations, we grew to know and enjoy one another. This type of bonding is difficult to achieve in our busy, hectic lives.--A grandmother who participated in a program at Strathcona Park Lodge in Vancouver Island

* If there is any major over-riding philosophy, it is this: You don't have to do a heck of a lot to teach grandparents how to be with their grandchildren. The bond between generations--a vital connection--is naturally warm and caring. Truly unconditional love.--A camp director in upstate New York

* I played the autoharp, and I like my grandparents a lot!--An eight-year-old program participant

* We wanted an experience with our grandchildren; and, believe me, we found it! I certainly am going to recommend this program to my friends and acquaintances.--A grandparent who participated in a program with her two grandchildren

TABLE 1. GENERAL COALS FOR OLDER AND YOUNGER PERSONS AS ADDRESSED IN

INTERGENERATIONAL INTERVENTION

Domains     Older Person                 Younger Person
Social      Maintaining and developing   Extending social contacts
                                         and

            meaningful relationships     knowledge of Western

                                         culture

Affective   Receiving and giving         Sharing attention
            attention

Cognitive   Maintaining skills and       Developing new skills
                                         teaching

            teaching interests           current skills

Physical    Maintaining and increasing   Adapting to new
            activity level               environment