MISSION VIEJO : Seniors and Little Pals Have a Time

Florence Savage twirled one end of a jump rope and sang a rhyme with four new friends one morning recently on the playground of Fred Newhart Jr. Elementary School.

“Spinning a jump rope is good for my arthritis,” she said, rubbing her wrist and laughing.

Savage, a retired pediatrics nurse from Mission Viejo, and 24 other members of the Oso Viejo Senior Center were taking part in a new exchange with the school, which is next door.

The seniors visit to tutor students, play games and to give a hug or word of encouragement when needed. In return, students visit the senior center to sing, perform skits and to show off such things as Halloween costumes.

“When I first came to the school two years ago, I wanted to do something to get the seniors and the children together,” said Susan McGill, Newhart’s vice principal. “In Mission Viejo, there is not enough mixing of the generations.” Many of the children’s grandparents live someplace else. And many of the seniors’ grandchildren live elsewhere. “So this program fills a need for both of them.

“And the kids love it. I was coming back from the center with some students and they yelled to their friends, ‘We just saw grandma and grandpa.’ I think their friends were jealous.”

Louise Kripalani, recreation supervisor at the center, said the seniors, too, look forward to the students’ visits.

“Many of the seniors never get to see children,” she said. “They were so excited when the children came to the center in their Halloween costumes.”

For Eleanor Lau, a retired Mission Viejo homemaker, the program has soothed some of the sting she felt when her son recently moved to San Luis Obispo with her 2-year-old granddaughter “who was just learning to say grandma.”

“There was one little boy from Cambodia who I don’t even think speaks English,” said Lau, who has been tutoring a fourth grade. “His last name is spelled Liu and so I introduced myself to him and showed him that only one letter of our names is different. I don’t know if he understood me, but he enjoyed my company.”

Amanda Taylor, a 5-year-old kindergartner, said she has fun when Arthur Jablin, a 69-year-old retired camera store owner, visits her classroom.

“We get to play games and he makes us happy,” she said.

Lindsey Longendyke, another kindergartner, said she feels the same way about Savage’s visits.

“She helps us jump rope and she tells us when we’re doing good,” she said.