CONVERSATIONS WITH KIDS
Lessons From a 14-Year-Old
A Boomer finds an unexpected friendship
As a semi-retired Baby Boomer with grown children and no adolescent grandchildren, I don’t often get the opportunity to converse with a teenager. But I believe in fostering intergenerational understanding and relationships, so I looked around for an appropriate remote volunteer opportunity that would put me in touch with a teen.
I found a program called “Sharing Smiles,” sponsored by a nonprofit organization, Empowering the Ages. Sharing Smiles was created as a response to increased social isolation during the pandemic. It allows people from older and younger generations to connect safely with each other through monitored email.
My penpal and I could not have been more different. Here I was, a 72-year-old New York-born Boomer who relocated from New England to North Carolina, corresponding with a 14-year-old from Florida whose family came to the United States from the Caribbean. Yet, as we developed a conversational rhythm and got to know each other, I like to think we really began to understand one another’s lives.
We’ve shared information about our families. We’ve expressed mutual concern about climate change and pollution. We’ve had a useful dialogue about race relations in America.
