Respect for the Aged

Schools in Japan are beginning to introduce classes to help children deepen their understanding of elderly nursing care-related issues, such as Arthritis and Alzheimer's. Such classes take place at primary-, middle- and high schools across the nation. Children gather in the gym to get hands-on lessons to understand the physical and mental disabilities that afflict the elderly.

With one of their legs wrapped in a cardboard tube, children try to walk, which brings out complaints such as, ‘It is so hard to walk’ or ‘I'm going to fall!’ The cardboard tubes are meant to help the children experience leg disabilities similar to the elderly who suffer joint pains.

To demonstrate hand disabilities, the children try to scoop up ‘go’ stones with a spoon and remove change from a wallet while wearing stockings over their hands.

“I now get how hard it is for elderly people. When I see elderly people who need help, I'll try to give them a hand,” says Ayano Yokoi, one of the students.

School textbooks explain how dementia develops and how to communicate with a person suffering from it, as well as providing basic knowledge about its symptoms.

“Learning about dementia also gives children, who are sensitive, an opportunity to think about the dignity of life,” says Hiroko Sugawara, secretary of General Education.

Source: Yomiuri News 2010-08-10

Please show honor and respect especially to the elderly!

Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;  The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. I Timothy 5:1,2

Respect our elders, learn from our elders--they have much to share! Are we willing to listen and learn? Do we teach our children to do the same?