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Where did the Idea Come From?
Where Did
the Idea of Parent Education for Older Parents Come From?
A study of helping behaviour between older mothers (65+) and their middle-aged
daughters, revealed some valuable insights about parent-child interaction
in the older family. (Rosen, 1987). Indepth interviews, conducted on a
sample of older mothers and their middle-aged daughters found that the
expectations that each generation had of the other were often quite incongruous.
Parents tended to continue in the traditional, authoritarian model of parenting, that had been functional for them in their earlier years as parents, while the daughters were looking for different kinds of relationships with their mothers at this stage of their lives. As one daughters said, “I want unconditional love and affection from my mother but I don’t’ want her to pull rank”. The daughters were looking for more egalitarian friendship relationships with their mothers.
In her study, Rosen suggested that an educational intervention with older parents might alleviate some of the stress experienced by the “sandwich generation”. Where the focus has, previously, been on helping the “sandwich generation” cope, this kind of intervention, could provide the older generation with insights into how they might alter their behaviour in the interaction with their adult children. This process could be empowering to the older parent and could help them interact in a more satisfying way with their adult children. Also, if older parents are sensitized to new behaviours in the “young-old to middle-old” stages when they are reasonably self-sufficient and independent, they may have a more appropriate repertoire of behaviours to call upon for the time they need to be more dependent on their adult children.