{"id":3813,"date":"2016-12-28T11:26:05","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T16:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/?p=3813"},"modified":"2016-12-28T11:26:05","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T16:26:05","slug":"the-golden-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/the-golden-age\/","title":{"rendered":"The Golden Age?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pr<\/a>It\u2019s called the Golden Age. From the vantage point of a younger person, it truly seems golden. No difficulties with toddlers or raising a difficult teen. No problematic boss to please. No mortgage payments to meet. The senior can just sit back and enjoy her accomplishments. But is it really so? Now let\u2019s change hats and sit on the senior\u2019s rocking chair. No children who need her to kiss the boo-boo away. No shared smile of satisfaction with a daughter when the perfect Yom Tov outfit s finally found. No challenges. No satisfaction in meeting those challenges. The former frantically-busy-mother wonders just what she is doing in the world. Gradually, lacking the stimulus of natural challenge, she forgets how to think, how to problem solve, how to plan. Lacking goals, she is miserable, depressed with no idea how to extricate herself from the dilemma.<\/p>\n

Ezer Mizion\u2019s professional staff has many means of counteracting such a situation. A recently added program is Games. Let\u2019s join a trained volunteer as she plays with a group who is being introduced to games:<\/p>\n

I explained the rules of Sudoku to them. They seemed hesitant. One was put off because she felt games are for children. Another was sure she was going to be embarrassed in front of the others by not knowing what to do. Following many-step directions has not been her forte in recent years. Some hardly knew the meaning of the word \u2018game\u2019. But they all were brave enough to try. These were some of the comments after an hour\u2019s play.\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you come twice a week?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of sitting at home with nothing to do, I came. And I did it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I thought it was childish, but after I was successful, it made me feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good think that we took turns playing. I am naturally a slow thinker, and when it was my turn, I had time to think and no one jumped in and snatched it from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere can we buy the game? I\u2019ll play with my granddaughters and they\u2019ll see that Savta knows how to play, and even how to win<\/em>!!\u201d<\/p>\n

The following week, many reported that they had purchased the game and played with their grandchildren. They had developed strategies and we were able to move up to the highest level.<\/p>\n

When I introduced Tentrix to a different group, many held back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not first. I don\u2019t want to mess up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be first. If I don\u2019t get it right, please, no comments!\u201d<\/p>\n

One whispers in my ear, \u201cGive me a hint how to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have an idea, let\u2019s talk over how to put the tiles together, out loud. Everyone will say what she thinks is best to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so the game began: There was a discussion among them how to put the tiles by color, to find a good spot, each one gave advice to her friend how to make a chain, and as they worked, they discovered techniques in creating small and large loops.\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I introduced Rummikub, a game that had been in existence for generations, I was surprised that most of them were not familiar with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think I had a childhood? The Nazis stole it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even play games with my children. I was too busy giving them my heart and soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only game I played was Hide and Seek, hiding from the cursed Nazis. I had to fight for food, for potato peels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Checkers was another shocker. Almost none of them knew how to play. We worked on strategies. At first, their goal was to get a king. Gradually, they learned blocking and defense techniques and how to win by careful planning.<\/p>\n

Each week, several report playing one of the games with grandchildren. Their conversation has become more upbeat with their feelings of empowerment spilling onto other areas of their lives. The games are just one part of Ezer Mizion\u2019s Golden Age Program which includes social groups, gardening groups, walking groups, trips and much more. It is our hope that we will be able to truly help to make these final years the golden years of joy and nachas.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s called the Golden Age. From the vantage point of a younger person, it truly seems golden. No difficulties with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[721,27,83,19,317,72],"class_list":["post-3813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-golden-age","tag-depression","tag-elderly","tag-game","tag-golden","tag-holocaust","tag-senior"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3819,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions\/3819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}