Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Senior Cohousing versus seniors in Mixed-Age Cohousing

[MD Reed (mdreed1919]

Hi Norm,

There are over 20 children/teens at OCC at this time.

Mary
--- OC611NGC <normangauss [at] charter.net> wrote:

> 
> The more retireds you have, the more resources you have for community 
> building.  We have 36 households of which about 30 percent have children 
> totaling 14 in the community.
> 
> Our community has members of mixed age, with many retired singles and 
> couples.  The younger adults with children have jobs, and have limited time 
> and energy to engage in community work and childrens activities.  Some of 
> the mothers have a dream that the retired people will willingly pitch in as 
> baby sitters, story tellers, play monitors and even game participants. 
> Because these dreams have not materialized as envisioned, they are unhappy 
> and express their disappointment in the low amount of interest shown in 
> interaction with the children.  Some have even complained that we are not a 
> child-friendly community.
> 
> The general feeling among the retireds is that they have already raised 
> their families and exhausted their interest in helping to raise children. 
> Some say that they are done with raising children and now want to pursue 
> other interests.  Although they enjoy having children in the community, they 
> are the first to complain about the noise and misbehavior, which contributes 
> to a guilty feeling in the parents that maybe their children are at fault.
> 
> A seniors-only community has many advantages.  The younger retireds have 
> time and energy to work on maintaining the property.  All of them have time 
> to serve on committees and contribute to decision making.  Very few of the 
> parents serve on committees or do any work on maintenance.
> 
> So the more older people you have, the more resources are available for 
> community work and decision making.  With about 30 percent of our membership 
> consisting of working parents, we are having more and more difficulty in 
> finding people interested in devoting their time and effort to community 
> affairs.  Some of the retireds are exhausted and are pulling back.  Some of 
> them feel that their efforts at times cause emotionally-draining conflicts 
> and are not appreciated.
> 
> I am of the opinion that the most controversial, emotionally-wrenching and 
> time-consuming discussions we have had are on childrens affairs.  We would 
> have a more harmonious community with fewer children.
> 
> Norm Gauss
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bruce McKinney" <brucem [at] greensilverlinings.com>
> To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 2:14 PM
> Subject: [C-L]_ Senior Cohousing versus seniors in Mixed-Age Cohousing
> 
> 
> >
> > We are in the early forming stage for a cohousing community (currently
> > called the Silver City Eco-Community in Silver City, New Mexico). So far 
> > all
> > members of our core group are between about 55 and 60, but we have been
> > planning a mixed age cohousing community and trying to recruit younger
> > people. I recently started reading Senior Cohousing by Chuck Durrett, 
> > which
> > raised questions about whether we should be forming a senior cohousing
> > community.
> >
> > Personally I'm still in denial about my age, and I can't see why I would
> > choose senior cohousing, but maybe I'm missing something. I would like to
> > get opinions from younger seniors in cohousing (especially 55 to 60) on 
> > why
> > you chose senior cohousing or mixed cohousing and whether you think you 
> > made
> > the right decision. If you are in mixed cohousing, would you consider 
> > moving
> > to senior cohousing?
> >
> > Bruce McKinney
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> > 
> 
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