A TURN IN THE ROAD

         I have posted more than 100 blog entries since I began the blog Retirement: Third Age New Beginnings.  In the beginning I needed a lot more understanding of how to access and reply to Comments.   For the last 5 months that has not been a problem.  I was able to change process,

         It’s wonderful to read how many people from all over the world have been reading my blog entries.  But few people to take the time to make comments.   It’s like communicating in a pitch-black room.

         While I was still teaching at Kwantlen, I enjoyed very much interaction with persons taking my Aging Class.  Most teachers do not like to drone on without feedback.  From now on if you post a comment I will reply. 

         Surging around this morning on my computer files I came upon a number of short aging scenarios.  I used them in class to facilitate discussions, giving those taking the class the opportunity to express their ideas about the topic.  I am going to do that on my blog and see if I can generate discussion and get some feed back.

         Here is the first one:  

            Bill had looked forward to retirement for the last five years.  Six months age the long awaited day finally arrived, complete with a party and farewell speeches.  For a while he was happy with his newfound freedom.  He could sleep in, and didn’t have to deal with, company meetings and the constant pressure of the large mining company that had dominated his life for the last 33 years.   Lately though, everything had changed.  His wife Betty, who had retired three years earlier was anxious to start their journey in their mobile home which had been parked in the yard for a couple of years.  Trivial arguments between them seemed to have become the norm.  Somehow he missed the hustle and bustle of his old job.  No one came to him for decisions anymore.  They were both worried about being able to exist on fixed incomes.  His body seemed to hurt in new places.  He felt isolated, alone and rudderless.   Their neighbors envied the couples leisure.  But that didn’t matter. He has come to you for advice.  What would you advise?

           

I eagerly await your comments

Elderspeak

        Have any of you ever experienced the following treatment? In the article, cited below, the authors describe a way of talking described as “elderspeak.”  It refers to “ …a specialized speech register resembling baby talk in addressing older adults.” This form of speech uses few clauses, shorter phrases, more filler phrases (e.g., “like,” “you know”), words with fewer syllables, slower speech, and longer pauses.  Elderspeak also includes the use of words like “dearie”, “cutie” and “sweetie.”

         Stereotyping creates the conditions for elderspeack.  The speaker assumes that the older person has low mental ability or some other impairment. Elderspeak has a negative effect on the older person; it creates low self-esteem, it reduces a person’s ability to communicate effectively, it decreases the quality of interaction, and it reduces the older person’s sense of control.   Now the question is, what can we do about it? I would like you to respond to this information so we can discuss it further.   

Elderspeak[i]

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[i]  Thorton, R. & Light L.L. (2006).  “Language & Comprehension and Production in             Normal Aging , Handbook of the Psychology of Aging, 6th ed.  IN Aging and             Society: A Canadian Perspective, 6^th Ed. P.6

Ageist Humour

 This material was discovered and printed by one of the most outstanding gerontologists, Dr. Erdman Palmore[i]

·      You’ve reached old age when all you exercise is caution

·      On the front: Nobody should call you an old codger

·      Inside: A sexy old codger would be more accurate

·      There’s a similarity between babies and old men—both fall asleep over there bottles

·      We don’t count an man’s years until he has nothing else to count

·      An old maid is a woman who has missed the opportunity for getting divorced.

·      Old lady to a friend:  “ I had a lot of trouble last night. A man kept banging on my door.

·      Friend:  “Why didn’t you open it?”

·      Answer: “What and let him out?”

·      Time may be a great healer, but he certainly is no beauty specialist

·      One man asks another, “What did she have done?”         Answer: “I don’t know but whatever it was, I sure was wrinkled.

·      A man is only as old as the woman he feels.

·      Birthday card front:  The trouble with being our age, by the time our ship comes in…..    Inside: our piers are collapsed.

·      The secret of living to be a 100 becomes less attractive as you get older

·      At a certain age some people’s minds close up:  they live on an old intellectual fat.

·      An old man approached his doctor and said: “I’m slowly going nuts over women, I there any way I can speed it up?

·      A gerontologist was lecturing about aging processes:  “There are three signs of aging:  First there is memory…(pause)…and I’ve forgotten the other two.

·      Old age is an incurable disease

·      Old man: “Why don’t you tell me when you’re having an orgasm?                                                                                  Wife: “ I would but you’re never there.”

 

   

  

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[i] Jokes take from Palmore E.B. (1990). Ageism positive and negative  Springer Publishing Company, New York, NY.

Satisfaction with Later LIfe

         I look outside as winter approaches and think about how satisfied I am with life.  I’m seventy-two with quite a bit to do. I fired up the computer and came across a tool that may be useful to you in examining you life satisfaction.[i]   I think it might be useful to you.

         Below are five statements that you may agree or disagree with. Using the 1-7 scale below, indicate your agreement with each item by connecting the appropriate number for each statement. It will be valuable to you if you are open and honest with your responding. After all you will be the only person who see’s the results.

·      7 – Strongly agree

·      6 – Agree

·      5 – Slightly Agree

·      4 – Neither Agree nor disagree

·      3 – Slightly disagree

·      2 – Disagree

·      1 -  Strongly disagree

Then consider what results indicate and see if you agree

·      31 – 35  Extremely satisfied

·      26 – 30  Satisfied

·      21 – 28  Slightly satisfied

·      20          Neutral

·      15 – 19  Slightly satisfied

·      10 – 14  Dissatisfied

·       5 -   9    Extremely dissatisfied

Time marches on.

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[i]  J. Corrigan (2000). Satisfaction with life scale, The Center for outcome measurement in Brain Injury, http://www.tbims.org/combi/swis (accessed June, 18,2011)   *Note: This citation is for the COMBI web material. Dr. Corrigan is not the scale author for the SWLS

The Journey into a Leisure World

         Last August 31^st I formally retired from Kwantlen Polytech University.  My life has taken a different turn. Even though I was only teaching two courses per term over the last several years I have, during the past two months, begun to explore the “real” meaning of leisure activities’

         If you look back over my blog entries you will see one of my new activities, acrylic painting. Recently I have been struggling with painting a picture of my mother, who’s now 95, in her earlier years.

What a task; maybe I need to stick with landscape pictures. In any case another of my “leisure” activities is creating entries onto my blogspot.

         Last Monday night I had the honor of stepping in for the person who is currently teaching the ageing class. What a joy it was to return to the classroom! It was leisure for sure, In any case, I d decided to look around in my personal library to see what I could find and I found some material in the book cited at the bottom of this post,[i]

         There is a small section in the book that focuses on Retirement Leisure.  The author asserts, “Individuals select leisure activities to fit their personal identity (how they define themselves) and their social identity (how they believe they are defined by others)

         When I was teaching I saw myself as a type of “independent contractor.” There are rules but there is a lot of freedom in decision-making. I decided what I would say and the structure of the evening, which included student group presentations.

         But now back to the bigger picture, my teaching is concentrated on the creation of blog entries. I now have 148 posts.

         “There is no universally accepted definition of leisure, partly because experiences and meanings are extremely personal and diverse.”    The author provides 18 elements that help define leisure. Take a look at them and decide which ones work best for you.

·      A social context for establishing and developing primary social relationships.

·      A state of mind, attitude or being

·      Non-work

·      Freedom of choice in selecting activities

·      Free or discretionary time

·      Relaxation and diversion from work and personal maintenance activities.

·      Playfulness or play

·      Voluntary activity

·      Expressive activities, in which there is internal satisfaction and an emphasis on the process rather than on the end result or product.

·      Instrumental activities, which offer external rewards and which have an end product or outcome as a goal.

·      Spontaneity

·      Utilitarian and meaningful activities.

·      Active and passive activities

·      Social (group) or individual (solitary) activities

·      Expensive or inexpensive activities

·      Intellectual (that is cognitive), social, or physical activities

·      Intrinsic or extrinsic rewards

·      Creativity

·      High culture or mass culture

         I must stop here because I need to take a shower and get ready from my visit to local Chamber of Commerce dinner as a representative of the Langley Seniors Centre Board.

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[i] B.D. McPherson,(2004). Aging as a Social Process: Canadian Perspectives, Oxford             University Press

Content of Age-Based Stereotypes(1)

Clusters of age based stereotypes reflect the ageist attitudes, (some

positive) such as the notion that older aged adults are less competent

the younger adults or on the other hand, wiser. Studies also suggest

the belief that as we age, we are less independent and strong. We are

also seen as less attractive. Hence we often see commercials promising

that the item for sale will help reduce wrinkles. “ Consider the number of

terms that are used for older adults that reflect unattractiveness, such as

crone, goat, hag, witch, withered, and wrinkled (Palmore, 1990)

For those of you who are interested in ageism the items are

on Table 9.3, p. 376, in the book listed below. There are five factors

considered characteristics of aging

Intolerance	Health/Physical Appearance	Personality	Dejected	Activity/Sociability
Get upset easily	Have health problems	Are set in their ways	Poor	Unproductive
Talk to themselves	Never fully recover from illness	Meddlesome	Hopeless	Not optimistic
Grouchy	Walk slowly	Old-fashioned	Unhappy	Physically inactive
Intolerant/impatient	Wrinkled	Think about the good old days	Lonely	Active outside home
Rigid	Talks slowly	Gives good advice	Insecure	Has lots of friends
Critical	Hard of hearing	Interesting to meet Good companion Likeable Interesting Experienced	Complains  a lot	Has hobbies

 i Whitney,B.E.& Kite M.E. (2006). The Psychology of Prejudice and

Descrimination, Thomson, Wadsworth, For more go to

www.wadsworth.com

An Apology

Over the past year I have posted over 80 times and in many instances you have made a comment which I was unable to respond to.  I think I have it fixed, your comment will show up on my email and I will check it regularly.  I am very interested in your ideas. 

Sincerely

Larry