Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: cohousing for older people

[Sharon Villines (sharonvillines]

As an almost 60 person with many friends in their 70s and 80s, the
attraction of cohousing is  that it includes older people without being
limited to older people.

I may have mentioned this before but there was study done to determine the
value of older people in society -- "why does nature allow humans to outlive
their reproductive usefulness when other species generally do not."

The result of the study was that the older people (grandparents) were
necessary for the well-being of older children. While the parents could
provide for the infant and the economic well being of the family, older
children fared better  when there were active grandparents and other older
generation people involved in their care and education.

As the oldest of 4, my grandmother was much more instrumental in my life
than my mother who was always taking care of the babies "because they needed
her more." When I was at  home, I was also taking care of the babies. The
only age-appropriate activities for me were gained away from home.

Grandmothers also have a lot of time to just sit and rock a baby which has
been found to be very good for developing the nervous system and stimulating
the lymphatic drainage. "In the old days" adults were also rocked.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


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