"When changing the world, remember self-care"
Erin commented on How might we inspire and engage young people to support older adults through mentorship?
That's a very good point, Luke!
This is a great idea for a challenge, and I love that it seems to 'reverse' the typical direction of mentorship.
I have two examples where I've seen this kind of cross-generational mentoring work.
1. My local council set up a "youth mentoring seniors in computer skills" program over a series of weeks. I think it was run at the local library (or maybe through a school, I can't remember). I read about it in the newspaper, and I recall that both the seniors and the youth found it very useful.
I think for this to work, there needs to be clear boundaries around time commitment -- a short, intensive spurt of interaction would appeal more to the youth (say 4 consecutive weeks) rather than an open-ended, ongoing arrangement. Having a curriculum set out would also be helpful, so the youth don't need to reinvent the wheel.
2. Another example recently went viral: Students in Brazil being paired with retirees in the USA for English classes. This is a perfect example of the synergy that happens when a mentoring situation can be mutually beneficial.