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Community blends stages of life
By ABBIE VANSICKLE LARGO -- The first floor of Cypress Palms is a jungle of playground equipment, plants and brightly colored posters. A two-level treehouse rises to the ceiling. A full-size white sightseeing boat sits on the carpeted floor, next to red plastic wagons. In classrooms adjacent to the play area, children aged 8 weeks to 5 years sleep. It's nap time. On the second floor of Cypress Palms, the scene is different. Corridors twist around hotel-like rooms. White-haired men and women slowly make their way from the dining area using walkers and wheel chairs and speaking quietly. Each week the residents of the first and second floors meet for a couple of hours in an experiment proving that opposites not only attract, but that they can learn important lessons from one another. It's called an intergenerational learning program, a concept that is becoming popular in communities and universities across the country. With the population of retirees skyrocketing and millions of working parents searching for affordable child care, some neighborhoods and corporations are developing programs offering a solution that covers both ends of the spectrum: centers that care for young and old and offer programs that bridge the generation gap, joining young and old. The Palms of Largo, a planned community that is owned and operated by the Goodman Group, offers one of the biggest and most complete intergenerational learning programs in the country. With seven different living communities and a learning center, the 96-acre campus offers something for people in all stages of life. "Once you move onto this campus, you never have to leave again," said Cypress Palms spokeswoman Donna Cahn. Last week the center was in the national spotlight when nearly 20 representatives from the National Recreation and Parks Association toured the facility to learn more about cross-generational learning programs. Several representatives said they were amazed by what they had seen at the center. "It's been very interesting so far," said Jo Pendry, who works for the U.S. Army Headquarters in Virginia. "The Army is very interested in creating new programs for our veteran population, and I've been impressed with what I've seen." Center employees said they were not surprised at the positive reactions. "We're providing joy to everyone here," said Melissa Manspeaker, director of the Palms of Largo's Experiential Pre-School and Day Care Center. "There's my motto," she said, pointing to a poster on her office door. Showing a photograph of an older man sitting on a dock talking to a young woman, it read, "Everyone has a story to tell." Manspeaker, a Midwesterner who moved to Florida more than a decade ago, started working at the Palms as a teacher in the learning center. She fell in love with working with the children and was so impressed by the intergenerational programs that she decided to become the center's director. That was six years ago, and Manspeaker said she was still a firm believer in the benefits of bringing children and seniors together. "We all live in this world together, and we're here to help each other," she said. "Getting older is a natural part of life, and it's good we're teaching these kids not to fear older people." All week long, groups of children from the center travel to different locations at the Palms, singing songs and reading stories to seniors and joining in sing-alongs in the assisted living and Alzheimer's areas. Recently, the children went to a luau party at one of the senior centers. Dressed in Hawaiian shirts and lai's, the day care kids and the seniors learned to hula dance and tasted traditional Hawaiian cooking. Manspeaker said the idea of children working with seniors is exciting to most parents, but some people are anxious about the cross-generational programs. She said several parents have told her they didn't want their children to touch the seniors. This kind of stigma attached to aging is exactly what intergenerational programs are working to combat, she said. Parents lose any fears about the program as soon as their children are enrolled, she said. News is traveling fast about the benefits of the experimental program. Expectant parents should book their child's place now, she said. Spots in the center's day care program are filled more than two years in advance. People's positive reactions to the Palm's programs is no big surprise, said Dr. Nancy Henkin, executive director of Temple University's Center for Intergenerational Learning. Founded in 1979, it's the largest center in the United States for intergenerational learning. Henkin said similar programs were springing up all over the country to foster understanding between the generations. "I think there's a lot of isolation in our culture," she said. "People tend to live and work in such age-segregated communities, they miss an opportunity for people of all ages to interact." Staff members at the center teach other universities, as well as corporations, planned communities and neighborhoods, how to start programs of their own. "There's really no limit to the kinds of programs that can be created," she said. "As more partnerships are being created in communities, we can see that there's no limit to the ways we can all work with each other." -- Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 445-4224 or at vansickle@sptimes.com .
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