Recreating retirement: how will baby boomers reshape leisure in their 60s?

When Dylan Thomas advised in 1951, "Do not go gentle into that good night," he was writing to his Welsh father, but the words seem to have been taken to heart by American baby boomers. Some social scientists and leisure professionals say that the 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 will be more appropriately known not as boomers, but "zoomers" as they pass 60 years of age and alter society's concept of retirement. For many years, noted social scientist Ken Dyckwald has likened baby boomers to a "pig through the python" as they travel through our society. Boomers have redefined notions of youth, early adulthood and middle age, so it's safe to say they'll recast retirement?

In the leisure profession, the boomers' devotion to exercise and fitness is a prime example of their influence on society. When boomers entered elementary school, President John Kennedy initiated the President's Council on Physical Fitness, and physical education and recreation became a key component of public education. As boomers matured and moved into the workplace, they took their desire for exercise and fitness with them. Here we saw corporate fitness centers and private health clubs sprout up across the country. Now that the oldest boomers' are nearing 60, what approach to exercise and fitness will they take into' retirement?

Boomer Basics

What must leisure professionals remember about the lifestyles and attitudes of baby boomers, who some say have been the most coddled generation in American history?

* Boomers are known to work hard, play hard and spend hard.

* They have always been fixated with all things youthful. Boomers typically respond that they feel 10 years younger than their chronological age.

* Their nostalgic mindset keeps boomers returning to the sites and sounds of their 1960s youth culture. As long as the likes of Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney can crawl onto the stage, there will be boomers to fill the arena seats. Nancy Brattain Rogers, Ph.D., associate professor at Indiana State University, has quipped that boomers' movement into retirement can be considered "The Golden Age of Aquarius."

* Boomers view retirement as only a "mid-life" event. A survey conducted last year by Del Webb Communities and the Morrison Institute of Public Policy at Arizona State University found that boomers moving into planned retirement communities intend to either work part-time, change careers or start new business opportunities. Therefore, they may be more logically ready to recreate rather than retire.

* Time has always been a precious commodity to boomers. Planners that manage appointments from sunrise to late in the evening rule their lives. They have consistently over-programmed their days by attempting to pack every hour of the day with very little down time.

* Boomers are known to purchase more upscale goods and services than other age groups. They are attracted to facilities that emulate the Club Med or country club philosophy.

* According to Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, boomers are less disposed to civic engagements than previous generations. Putman's research casts concern on how, and to what extent, the boomer generation will volunteer as they age. The suggestion of decreased volunteerism by boomers to the parks and recreation agencies forewarns a drastic financial impact.

* Boomers will attempt to separate themselves from any signs or symbols that will connect them to being old. Putnam gives the example that, to boomers, the card game bridge will have the same antique sound as their grandparents' favorite card game, whist, had to their parents' ears.

* This age group tends to enjoy more individualized activities rather than group events. This supports the social theory that Americans are moving toward a culture of social isolationism. Boomers prefer to socialize in smaller groups and typically stay within extended family circles.

Reshaping Retirement

So, with these characteristics, what can we say about how boomers will reshape retirement?

First, boomers will remain dedicated to health, wellness and exercise. Our field must be prepared for high-end fitness centers catering to adults. At the facility I head, Green Valley Recreation, a private, leisure-service organization in Southern Arizona, we've seen a 34 percent annual usage increase in our five fitness centers over the past five years. Furthermore, every other retirement community in Arizona is seeing the same upward trends for fitness centers. A well-equipped fitness center is becoming a standard design element in new adult centers. The International Health, Racquet and Sports Club Association recently reported that membership from the 55+ age group has jumped by 114, percent over the last three years, while decreases in membership have been documented for the 18-35 age group. NRPA's Hearts N' Parks program can help you seamlessly add an educational component for your fitness classes. And it's co-sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, so public health departments often share resources.

Swimming pools have become less of a social setting and much more of an extension of boomers' health and wellness program. The old splash `n' play pools are giving way to large fitness pools designed to accommodate water walking, water aerobics and active lap swimming.

Because boomers have, in general, a high education level, they'll likely continue to pursue education as adults and into retirement. This portends well for community colleges and parks and recreation departments that provide the vast majority of non-credit classes. Boomers will look to our profession to give them the skills needed to enjoy many life-long hobbies and sports. When programming for this age group, remember to customize the experience to cater to their need for self-fulfillment, healthy pleasure, nostalgic youthfulness and individual escapes.

Be prepared to facilitate transitions away from games and activities that boomers associate with senior citizens. Activities such as bingo, bridge and shuffleboard will likely be avoided like the plague because boomers relate these activities to being old. Many communities are currently struggling with even the name for their facility to be used by boomers, who some researchers now call the "young old." Terms such as "community center," "adult center" or "social center" are far preferable to "senior center" in the eyes of boomers.

Technology will continue to have cachet with boomers. At Green Valley Recreation, we just built a 5,000-square feet computer center that holds three classrooms, Mac and PC areas, and areas for digital photography and e-mail applications. The computer club has quickly become the largest special interest club in our retirement community, with more than 1,500 members. Programming has matured significantly, from basics to digital photography and Web site design. NRPA's SeniorNet can help you fund these programs. Contact Ron Tillman at rtillman@ nrpa.org for more information.

The length and timing of programming for boomers must be compressed. Their lives are busy and will remain so in retirement. Workshops are preferable to six- or eight-week classes. Weekend and night classes are necessary, because many boomers work after retirement. They will not have four or five hours for a round of golf, but will give two or two-and-a-half hours for a nine-hole outing. Recreation will be snapped up in small segments, an hour here and an hour there, throughout the week, both day and night.

The state of volunteerism will change dramatically for our field--boomers won't replicate their parent's style of volunteering. Many of our agencies have been able to use senior volunteers as full-time, unpaid staff. In contrast, boomers will be volunteers dedicated to causes who give concentrated bursts of time to a specific task. Other boomers may become your most faithful part-time paid staff person for your seasonal programs.

Let's not forget how much boomers enjoy the outdoors, as seen by the popularity of small parks, green spaces and trail systems. Trails for walking, hiking and biking are amenities favored by homebuyers in retirement communities, and boomers are quickly adding in-line skating and rock climbing to their list of favorite outdoor activities. Recently, a new Del Webb community in Arizona built a practice climbing wall for the younger retirees.

Boomers will maintain their strong interest in arts and entertainment, but the contents will be different. Whereas once the sounds of the big band era would fill the auditoriums in adult communities, now entertainers playing the music of the 50s, 60s and 70s perform before sell-out crowds. Boomers have been concert-goers since their early teen years; however, they likely don't feel the same about dancing as earlier generations. For the World War II and Korean War generations, social ballroom dance was a way of life. Boomers never learned those graceful steps, and may avoid ballroom and square dance, and view them as being things that older senior citizens enjoy.

Boomers will reinvent, on their own terms, what being a 65-year-old means. Parks and recreation agencies that don't plan for boomers carrying on in retirement with the same hectic pace they've long lived at will be left behind as the pig makes its way through its next stage of the python.

What's a Boomer?

For leisure professionals to be adequately prepared for baby boomers as they approach their retirement years, we must be reminded of the demographic detail of this age group, their attitudes and their leisure tendencies.

Of the 76 million people known as baby boomers, 42 percent will be over 50 years of age by 2005.

As a group, they are a massive spending block.

Median income level of this age group is $51,700. It is a well-educated group, with 50 percent attaining at least two years of college.

Even with the relatively high income level, there's a growing gap between the "haves" and "have-nots" in this age group. According to an AARP survey, al least 23 percent of boomers won't be financially prepared for retirement.

Sixty-eight percent of boomers are married.

Not One Big Boom

Because baby boomers have an age span of almost 20 years difference (born between 1946 and 1964), some social scientists vigorously reject classifying these 76 million Americans as a monolith. In fact, these social scientists postulate, this age group may be the most diverse ever in terms of attitudes and social behavior. AARP has identified five groups of boomers on the basis of their attitudes toward retirement: The Strugglers, The Anxious, The Enthusiast, The Self-Reliant and Today's Traditionalists. "Be it in the workplace specifically, or in society at large, the baby boomers' impending march into retirement promises to redefine the way Americans think about their later years," AARP notes in "Baby Boomers Envisioning Their Retirement." "The five baby boomer segments portend an increasingly polarized society, a new type of work force and a wide range of retirement hopes and expectations."

Jeffrey J. Ziegler, M.S., CPRP, is executive director of Green Valley Recreation, Inc., in Green Valley, Ariz. He is a past president of the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association.