Ms. Beryl and Layla are great friends. It doesn’t matter that Beryl is 87, and Layla is four. The pair have many interests in common, and they spend a lot of time together. They make drawings, play games, and laugh at each other’s jokes. The two attend an intergenerational preschool called Mother Nurture. It brings society’s oldest and youngest members together in a community.

“At Mother Nurture the kids have someone who can tell great stories, but who also has the time and patience to really listen to them,” says director, Penny Livingston. “Many of the children do not have grandparents in the same city, and their friendships with their elderly ‘classmates’ make it possible for them to get along with people at a different stage of life.”

For the elderly, the experience is also rewarding (有益的). The children bring the joy and excitement of youth into their lives, and the time spent with kids improves their health. The elderly report feeling less lonely. Their minds work better, and even their bodies seem to benefit from staying with the children because they move more.

Mother Nurture is just one of many such programmes that have appeared around the world. The programmes work and even the kids’ parents benefit. Many families do not have relatives nearby, and the chance for their children to spend time with a person like a grandmother or grandfather pleases parents.

“We kind of get stuck with people who are the same age as us,” says Maya, a caregiver who has worked at Mother Nurture for three years. “When I see how careful the children are around their older friends, I know they are developing empathy (共情) for people who are different,” she says. “And that is good news for the rest of us since we will all be old one day.”