Reader\'s Digest Canada - 04.2020

photo by maude chauvin

How to

communicate

effectively with

your elders

Mature

Exchanges

BY Stéphanie Verge

OLDER PEOPLE TEND

to like me. I’m a good listener and a big talker, and

I know my way around a cup of tea and a stiff drink. I

tend to like older people, too—which is handy now

that the average age of my family members, spouse

and siblings aside, is hovering around 80.

Because I’m based in a different province than my

elderly relatives, my primary role in their lives is con-

versing, not caretaking. The same dynamic applies

to my relationship with my 89-year-old friend Raoul

Gagnon, whom I met through Les Petits Frères, a

Montreal organization committed to reducing social

isolation among seniors. Every week for the last five

years, we’ve gabbed in the kitchen of his walk-up

apartment. While I can happily chatter away with

Monsieur Gagnon and my family about everything

from travel to politics to childhood memories, I

sometimes wonder how well I’m holding up my end

78 april 2020

LIFE LESSON