RESEDA : Old and Young Come Together and Hit It Off

At first an experimental matchup of first-graders with elderly nursing home residents in Reseda Tuesday seemed likely to be doomed by social awkwardness--at least by the kids.

After singing holiday songs, the children stood uncomfortably before the seated seniors, tongue-tied and shifting their weight. But the moment was mercifully brief. Soon, a murmur of voices filled the room. Residents leaned forward in their chairs to clasp a small hand or pinch a cheek. Tension lifted like a curtain.

“It’s beautiful,” said Gladys Barak, 79. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen little ones. I eat up their words.”

The program, linking the Grancell Jewish Home for the Aging and the private John Thomas Dye School, was a test run of plans to develop a long-term relationship between the residents and the children. Dye School headmaster Ray Michaud said before the program that he wasn’t sure whether it would work, and he just wanted to see how things went.

By the end, the children and residents were chatting away, and Michaud was planning the next meeting and talking of pen pals.

“We want to begin an intergenerational dialogue,” he said. “Society is changing. There are a lot of older people now. I hope they (the students) can learn about them.”

Intergenerational programs matching seniors with children are becoming more popular locally. Two day-care programs involving seniors and children are scheduled to begin operating next year in the Valley. Supporters say the idea is to recapture a sense of community in which the elderly help rear children, and children learn from elders.