If you’re like our family these days, you’re struggling to keep elderly grandparents safe and satisfied! Ours are 85 years old and still believe they can do just about anything – they drive, cook, exercise, take care of their siblings, grocery shop; one still teaches university classes 😊 But, as capable as they are (and like to believe they are), they are still very much in the high-risk category if they were to contract Covid-19. Ugh!
So, as a family, after 15 plus hours and far too many accidental hang-ups, we’ve taught the grandparents how to use Skype. Hooray… phew! So now they can teach and learn and stay at home.
The incorporating of intergenerational learning is very prevalent in today’s discussions of environmental education and collective climate action, namely because it’s an important keystone in establishing sustainable systems. In our family’s opinion, never before have we seen such a dangerous divide among generations – children, parents, grandparents — to the point that our very existence is now in jeopardy. As a friend and colleague of ours put it… we’re faced with a complete lack of connection, where one generation refuses to yield to the future and the other is left to fend for itself without any guidance and leadership.
What a better time to reach out and connect the generations! Zoë and Zach found this really cool object (see the photos, below) on our farm a few days ago, and they’ve been having a blast researching what it is. They told their grandparents about their find but didn’t reveal its true identity. This reminded their grandpa about a TV show from the early 1950s he used to watch called, What in the World, where an artifact was presented to a bunch of anthropologists to try and figure out what the object is.
So this is our family’s rendition of What in the World. Try and guess what it is, what it might have been used for, how old it might be, why was it there. Here are a couple clues… it is a very thick and heavy green glass cylinder, about 4” tall and 2” in diameter, has a groove running around the circumference, is threaded inside and is molded with the words “Brookfield” on one side of the bottom, “New York” on the other side of the bottom and a backwards “7” at the rounded top. Also, we found it at the very top of the steep mountain ridge on the property line behind our farmhouse – which is now woods, but used to be cleared and farmed about 100 years ago.
Give it try, then, try your own What in the World with the elders in your family. Go for a search around the yard, even inside the house… maybe find something interesting online. Then give some clues to the elders in your family; let them ask questions and see if they can figure it out. Then, let them do the same for you.
Have some fun. Be safe. Be together in new ways.
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