Multi-Generational: Sharing Life Stories, part of Cultivating Compassion in Children, is a program bringing together children, seniors, and generations in-between in the community.

These gatherings plant seeds in the heart. Life storytelling is like tending a garden. Life stories are not just tales, but tools for fertilizing knowledge and understanding, weeding out negativity and distractions, and dispelling ignorance and prejudices. Just like a garden needs care, stories are needed to nurture in yielding a harvest of wisdom and compassion.

This harvest produces competent individuals who can highly function and reproduce themselves into healthy giving and contributing selves and offspring in society while gaining and sustaining economic opportunities from the seeds passed down and nurtured starting through these life stories.

In addition, these sessions address social issues of isolation, ageism, self-worth, self-image, self-identity, misconceptions, and misunderstandings. These issues can affect mental health, leading to questioning such as “am I enough,” to anger, frustration, and even violence in our society.

Senior living facilities often host these events with attendance from others such as homeschool groups, boy and girl scout troops, MOPS, and daycares. High school teens and recently retired seniors volunteer and parents are often in attendance.

A typical event includes an ice breaker activity and prompt communication with the seniors and the kids about the differences, similarities, and the beauty in each of us. Puppets and other props are often used. The story is told with a message on topics such as misunderstanding disabilities with aging, beauty in aging, inclusion, acceptance and welcoming. It is being expanded to include  stories from previous generations on hard work, determination, planning, overcoming obstacles, and motivation in obtaining and sustaining financial success, and that even as a child, the principles can be planted, applied, nurtured, and grown. Related crafts are made and snacks eaten. These sessions generally last 45 minutes.

Join us in planting and cultivating the seeds of compassion, one story at a time, several generations together.

Two of the written stories in the Cultivating Compassion in Children series,
Can Old Be Beautiful and What’s Wrong with Grandpa
tie directly to intergenerational conversations to increase understanding and compassion.