When the world is stepping into an aging society or an Aging Society and being an extended family in the past when the children live together with their parents, grandfathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, grandmothers gradually decrease. became more of a single-family lifestyle causing many elderly people to be alone, which has created a lot of loneliness to some extent But when the world is faced with the COVID-19 epidemic, it makes the elderly more lonely because they don't dare to leave the house to talk to their friends or doing outdoor activities as before for fear of getting infected. In Japan, therefore, come up with a cute project to relieve loneliness and encourage the elderly.

The project is Pen pal. The project's creators have matched elementary school children with the elderly. A very cute couple is a grandmother in her 70s and a 7-year old’s girl. The two exchanged letters. In the beginning the seven-year-old couldn't figure out what to write to the old lady, so she asked her mother to help. But after exchanging and reading each other's letters for a while, the little girl began to feel that she knew more of her pen pals and began to write letters herself. On grandmother's side, she waited every day for letters from friends of different ages. Every time Grandma received a letter, she was very happy. She said that reading the letters of the little girl makes her feel like a girl again. And this helped her to relieve a lot of loneliness.


The most impressive sight was when the team arranged for a couple of Pen Pal to meet. The little girl sat and thought about what she would do as a present for her elderly friend. She remembers that Grandma said she liked flowers. So, the little girl made a mask with cute flowers and prepared it as a present for his grandmother. The day they met, grandma couldn't hold back the tears of joy and said to a seven-year-old girl that the exchange of letters made her want to live on. This is what fills grandma's heart to be bright and hopeful again. The girl gave her a floral mask that she made herself and said. I think it's perfect for grandma. Grandma brought a mask and put it on with tears of joy. The two promised to continue writing letters to each other regularly. The two were photographed together with a Japanese-style two-fingered thumbs-up, with both smiling faces. This is a very impressive image and tells us that there are no walls to build love understanding between people of different generations.

In addition to Japan, the United States has a cute project. This is also the case in Silver Spring, Maryland. Saint John the Baptist Catholic School has initiated activities for 4th grade or primary students be a pen pal with seniors living in elderly homes in the same neighborhood. The initiator of the project thinks that this will help the elderly relieve loneliness. And the children themselves learn the views and ideas of different generations. The feedback from this project is very good. The children enjoy exchanging letters with senior citizens. And the elderly also has new activities have done and felt that they were not abandoned. In addition, children also get knowledge from the older generation too. A girl told her elderly friend that she had to do the report on President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and her older friend had told her many stories about the former president.

Both sides learned each other's preferences and interests. And that narrows the age gap. Children look at the elderly from a different perspective. The elderly are not boring old people. They also have a lot of knowledge and experience that will be conveyed to the new generation. The age difference is not a barrier for people of different ages to be able to understand each other. Just open your heart and communicate with each other sincerely. Don't set a wall against yourself in the first place. A society with people of different ages will be able to coexist with generosity and the elderly will have the willpower to continue living life without being alone.

Source

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20210526081950567/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/pen-pal-project-helps-fourth-graders-and-seniors-connect-during-the-pandemic/2021/04/26/5a3519ae-a11a-11eb-a7ee-949c574a09ac_story.html