Cheerful Giving From Our Young Ones
Young ones around the world have shown us so much love and brought us immense joy especially during the pandemic. The cards, the little videos, the beautiful letters – they have helped raise the spirits of all our residents here at Jah-Jireh. We wanted to do a little article on this as a tribute to these tiny tots and all you wonderful parents who have been training these young ones and helping them taste the joy of giving.
Many parents have also asked what their children could do to help our elderly ones, so we have included some information here as well.
How Children Benefit From Helping the Elderly
For all you parents who have been encouraging your children to help the elderly, we commend you. You are doing a wonderful job!
An article in a 2004 Kingdom Ministry says:
Parents, Train Young Ones to Help: Children can begin learning to help from an early age. Train them to pay attention at meetings, to preach, and to be exemplary in conduct at the Kingdom Hall and at school. Get them involved in serving others, doing things such as assisting with Kingdom Hall cleaning, helping the elderly, and so forth. Allow them to experience the happiness that comes from giving. (Acts 20:35) Such training can help them to become the pioneers, the ministerial servants, and the elders of tomorrow.
Laura Carstensen, a Stanford psychology professor and director of the Stanford Center for Longevity, says, “Contrary to widespread beliefs that older populations consume resources that would otherwise go to youth, there is growing reason to think that older people may be just the resource children need… It is a huge loss for society not to offer such counsel and experience to others, especially young people.”
The counsel and experience that young ones receive from older ones is invaluable. Children who regularly associate with older people see improvements in their vocabulary, reading and social skills and more importantly the blessings that come from obeying Paul’s admonition: “If any widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to practice godly devotion in their own household and to keep paying a due compensation to their parents and grandparents, for this is acceptable in God’s sight.” (1 Timothy 5:4)
Many of our elderly ones do not have children or grandchildren and even the ones who do always love to hear from the young ones in the brotherhood. With that in mind, here are a few ways children are helping older ones in Jah-Jireh.
This is a lovely project by the kids from the Jalahalli congregation in India:
The kids from the Jalahalli congregation in Bangalore, India made and sent these lovely paintings for our elderly residents. They made a project out of it and had a great time putting all this together for us. The residents were deeply touched by this heartwarming gesture and couldn't stop smiling. Thank you little ones for your effort and love and thank you to their parents and the congregation for bringing this to us.
How Children Can Help The Elderly
Interaction with children help the elderly in many ways. Some of them are listed here:
Improves mental and physical health
Research indicates that elders benefit immensely from interaction with younger people both mentally and physically. Spending time with the young allows them to reminisce in their own youth and enables them to recollect fond memories.
Decreases feelings of loneliness
The feeling of being alone, neglected or forgotten can be devastating irrespective of the age. Intergenerational interaction helps to eradicate it. A report from the Stanford Center on Longevity says: “Older people’s qualities and their affinity for purpose and engagement position them to make critical contributions to the lives of youth who need help the most. At the same time, such engagement fulfills older people’s desire for a sense of meaning and purpose, which in turn promotes well-being. Mutually meaningful relationships develop for both old and young.”
Reassures them that they are loved
Giving gifts to someone always brightens their day. Homemade gifts are special as they show the hard work and love that goes in to making that gift. Elderly ones appreciate the effort put into such gestures. If you are planning a project with the kids and would like to send some gifts to our residents, please write to us for details on where to send them.
Helps them learn new skills
Elderly ones love to learn new things! Helping them with technology, teaching them a new game or introducing them to new songs … there are so many things that young ones could do to bond with older ones. Your child could find their very own Jonathan or Naomi or Paul among our elderly ones.
A young sister from the local congregation came to sing the Kingdom Melodies and the original songs for the residents. Her father who is one of our carers sang with her. What a wonderful example in training children to have a volunteer spirit and spend time with our faithful older ones.
Expressions of Gratitude
A Watchtower brought out how older ones feel about this cheerful giving from young ones:
“I love spending time with younger ones,” says one elderly sister. “What I like most is that they treat me like a member of their family. It lifts my spirits.” Another older Christian states: “I really appreciate it when someone sends me a card, calls me on the phone for just a few minutes, or visits me for a while. It is like a breath of fresh air.”
Our residents are chuffed when they get such expressions of love from kids around the world. There are many other ways you and your kids could volunteer. If you would like to, then please e-mail info@jah-jireh.org
Thank you once again dear young ones and all of you for your support and love!