Early Children’s Literature and Aging

Abstract

Increased longevity is a worldwide phenomenon placing emphasis on the need for preparation for life's later years and for maximizing the potentials of these years. Today's children will be the older adults of tomorrow. A resource that can help to educate them about aging and prepare them for the long life ahead is early children's literature (Preschool-Primary). This literature can provide children with a holistic view of aging, teach them about aging and the aging process, promote positive attitudes about aging, and promote positive aging. Selecting early children's literature for aging content, resources for finding early children's literature to promote positive aging, and examples of early children's literature to promote positive aging are presented.

A educação intergeracional face ao discurso político do envelhecimento ativo

“…Existem vários tipos de programas intergeracionais que mostram, justamente, a pluralidade e a heterogeneidade acima referidas: "escolas comunitárias intergeracionais" (WHITEHOUSE;BENDEZU;FALLCREEKM;WHITEHOUSE, 2000), "comunidades de aprendizagem intergeracional" (NEIKRUG, 2005), "cidades habitáveis para todas as idades" ( VAN VLIET, 2009), outros programas focados no ambiente e na saúde (KAPLAN; LIU; STEINIG, 2005) e, especificamente, os que utilizam a literatura infantil (LARKIN;WILSON;FREER, 2013;MCGUIRE, 2016) como prática educativa transformadora diante do poder discriminatório do idadismo. Há autores que elaboram categorizações ou tipologias para distinguir uns programas intergeracionais de outros, evidenciando aspetos como a área de interesse, os serviços prestados, as atividades realizadas, as entidades promotoras, os profissionais e voluntários envolvidos, os benefícios para os participantes, etc.…”

An experimental study of mindfulness and acceptance-based skills for internalized ageism in older adults and college students

“…Ageist attitudes are transmitted across generations and affect how an individual experiences aging in a multitude of ways (Dychtwald & Fowler, 1990;McGuire, 2017). Changing aging education can revise ageist myths and stereotypes by shifting the focus of aging to good health, creativity, productivity, and activity (Pratt, 1992), as opposed to decline (McGuire, 2016). McGuire makes the argument that aging is often spoken about as being synonymous with decline, instead of within the context of a lifetime.…”

Aging Education: A Worldwide Imperative

“…It includes cognitive knowledge but should also contribute to the affective domain of learning . The devastating d's of death, dying, disease, disability, dementia, decline, and dependence are not synonymous with aging and should not be the focus of aging education (McGuire, 2016). When these topics are addressed it should be within a lifespan to enable children to assess their perceptions of the aging process and how it affects them; and 3) to expose children to an unbiased look at the attributes, behaviors, and characteristics of older adults in a variety of roles.…”

“…However, when carefully selected, children's literature has been shown to be an important aging education resource (Crawford, 2000;McGuire, 2016). Books with positive aging content need to be part of home, school, and …”