Children sharing with Seniors.

In my area numerous girl scout troops visit the local senior citizen homes, especially during the holidays.

I was going to take my two girl scout troops (46 girls) plus numerous parents at Christmas time. I wanted to do something different but meaningful.

So I thought I would print off some songs that would be more meaningful to the seniors other then the ever popular girl scout songs. For several meetings before our field trip, we sang some of the songs so the girls would learn the words etc.

The night of our trip, I was not prepared for what was going to happen.

We were in a room with about 75 seniors. Quite a few of them really didn"t realize what was going on around them. I was concerned my plan might not work, but boy was I wrong. With the help of all the parents who came we began to sing....

IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME

A BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

and all the other oldies that seniors knew and loved. Every senior in that room began to sing with us, even those I thought would not remember those songs. there were smiles all around. So we sang all the songs a second time and let me tell you they loved it.

Afterwards we spent time socializing with them and enjoying punch and cookies.

My point here is if you are taking youngsters to visit seniors sometimes sharing the past with them is truly something they will enjoy. Encourage the kids to ask questions about how the world was when they grew up, school, the prices of things back then, sports they were involved in, the types of clothing thet wore, their favorite activities etc. It will be a learning experience for those children that they will never forget and joy for the seniors who are sharing their stories about the good old days.