• Share

PRINT

Fed up with the inflexibility of the typical public-school curriculum, and passionate about working with children, PJ Lents of Palo Alto, Calif., founded the Periwinkle School — a “young 5’s” program for children transitioning from daycare to kindergarten — that she operates in her own home. Referring to her own school-age rebellion against the lack of creativity and accommodation in many schools, Lents remarked, laughing, “I was raised when people were rebelling against things…and I’m really good at it!”

“Really good” may be an understatement — the Periwinkle School has been running successfully for fourteen years, and excels at bringing out the personality and creativity of each child.

However, establishing the school, while doable, required a lot of work. Lents had to get licensed as a home daycare, get her home inspected, take classes regarding how to run a home-based program, get insurance, purchase supplies and furnishings, get an accountant to handle taxes, and more.

Even now, Lents, 62, is in charge of the entire program — writing the school’s curriculum, teaching, bookkeeping, enrollment, correspondence between the school and parents, and more.

Despite the sheer enormity of these tasks, Lents looks back on them with fondness. “It wasn’t complicated once I had a checklist to work from. I absolutely adore what I do – it’s so much fun! It’s just so charming to watch kids really bloom.”

Lents’ story is only one example among many of ways older adults can have meaningful intergenerational childcare experiences. Many other examples have been illustrated by Joy Zhang and Madeline Dangerfield-Cha, MBA students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Zhang and Dangerfield-Cha spent the summer of 2017 researching intergenerational models of childcare. The fruit of their labor is a paper entitled, “Making the Case for Intergeneration Childcare: How Adults 50+ Can Support Home-Based and Family Childcare Centers.”

From their research, one thing is clear: for older adults who aspire to enter the childcare field, there are a world of possibilities to discover. Here is a sampling:

Start a home daycare or school: Lents’ childcare experience was one of the childcare models studied by Zhang and Dangerfield-Cha, and they advocate that others follow in her footsteps. As proven by Lents, anyone can start a daycare center or pre-K program in their home, and this is a great way to follow one’s passion for working with children.

However, Zhang warned — and it can be inferred from the myriad of tasks Lents had to complete to start Periwinkle — that starting a school or daycare center is not for the faint-hearted.

“It’s an emotionally, financially, and mentally exhausting task. It is essentially starting a small business. But it is also really rewarding,” Zhang said.

Jumpstart Community Corps: For those not interested in becoming a business owner, consider becoming a volunteer instead. If you are willing to put in the time — up to 12 hours a week — join the Jumpstart Community Corps, a program based in Washington, D.C., in which community volunteers assist young children in a classroom setting.

After undergoing training, volunteers participate in activities such as helping instructors with children’s activities, teaching the children to read and write, and engaging them in outdoor games.

To learn more or to apply for a volunteer position, visit Jumpstart’s website at www.jstart.org/our-work/corps-members/ or contact Vida Awasom, Jumpstart’s Community and Partnerships Manager, at vida.awasom@jstart.org or (202) 223-7050.

Interages: Other worthwhile volunteer opportunities can be found at the JCA Heyman Interages Center. The center runs several programs that enable older adults to assist children in Montgomery County, Md. with reading and conversation skills. They include Dialogues Across the Ages, Grandreaders and Intergenerational Bridges. [Read “Interages Brings the Generations Together” in the September 2017 edition of The Beacon to learn more.] For more information or to volunteer, visit www.accessjca.org/programs/interages or call (301) 949-3551.

College courses: Interested in getting some more formal education about childcare? Interested in working with children for your “encore career”? Then consider going back to school for an early education degree.

Dangerfield-Cha explained, “We’ve seen people who have finished careers as bookkeepers or accountants and then are starting their early ed certificates at a community college and are planning to become teachers in preschool classrooms.”

Some universities in the local area offer such programs specifically for retirees. Georgetown University’s Senior Citizen Non-Degree Auditor Program, the University of Maryland’s Golden ID program, and the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, for example, offer university courses for older adults.

Visit the schools’ websites to see if there is a course that interests you, or to apply.
Georgetown: https://scs.georgetown.edu/departments/33/senior-citizen-non-degree-auditor-program/
U Md.: http://registrar .umd.edu/current/registration/golden-id.html
UVA: https://www.scps.virginia.edu/form/class-registration-senior-citizen

You can also talk to the staff at your local community college to see if they have any programs of interest. If these options are inconvenient, you can always take classes online. Ashford University and Liberty University offer online early education courses that may help interested retirees achieve their educational goals without having to physically travel to class.

Grandmas2Go: Grandmas2Go employs women 50 and above to serve as mentors or “grandmother-figures” to babies and young kids. Members essentially act as babysitters, caring for children in the child’s home.

Unfortunately, the program is only offered in Oregon; there is currently no similar program in this metro area. But that doesn’t mean it never will be. You could be the one to pioneer a similar organization here!

After receiving some training (e.g., CPR, basic childcare) you can advertise your babysitting services to those in your community and volunteer to care for their children. To learn more about Grandmas2Go’s mission and how they operate, visit https://grandmas2go.org/.

Generations Together: As a middle schooler, I created a club called Generations Together in which students visit a local retirement community and engage the residents in various activities.

You can do something similar by reaching out to a local retirement community and middle school near you to see if they would be interested in establishing a partnership. It’s a wonderful way to interact with children and promote intergenerational relationships.

In addition to the suggestions mentioned above, Zhang and Dangerfield-Cha suggest other ways one can find meaningful work with children. A few of the ideas mentioned in their paper and blog post include: starting an intergenerational community garden, initiating sporting events between local kids and seniors, offering to be a “playground helper,” or volunteering in preschool classrooms.

To learn more, read their paper, available online at https://encore.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IGChildcarenophotos-1.pdf, or access their blog at https://encore.org/blogs/10-ways-can-support-early-childhood-education/.

Regardless of the path you choose to pursue, take PJ Lents’ message to heart: “I would highly recommend what I do. If you have the energy to [take part in the childcare field], then it’s absolutely doable. It takes a lot of time, but it is really interesting and fun!” she concluded with a smile.