Grandparents adopted by children at Castiglione delle Stiviere primary school

They meet once a week, children e elderly, and spend time happily. It would be normal if they were grandparents and grandchildren. But no. The ones receiving the visit are the guests of a retirement home and the children of the family visit them Cesare Battisti Primary School di Castiglione delle Stiviere (Mantua). Students from two classes, fourth B and fourth D, are proud when they talk about the project.We adopt a grandfather”, thanks to which they enriched the days of a group of elderly people and the “backpack of their life”.

The idea came to the classroom. While reading the book "My Grandfather Was a Cherry Tree" by the writer Angela Nanetti, the students and teachers thought of doing something for the lonely elderly peopleIn the book, from which the idea for the project was born, the retirement home is described as “house of non-colors” and the students' goal is color the days of the elderly. The smiles, the laughter and the activities "can bring a breath of fresh air to these people, keeping melancholy and loneliness at bay, at least for a few hours." This is how the kids perceive their commitment.

One morning, the students from the Cesare Battisti primary school agreed to write a thought or reflection on the project. One of them wrote: "We experience the wait for Tuesday as a day of celebrationWe can't wait to meet their gazes, to encounter their smiles and the warmth of their hugs." Each meeting was surprising because "a role exchange occurs”. The children are they make people responsible While the grandparents become "little ones" learning from the students during the activities. This event helps raise the men and women of tomorrow, but also brings great harmony to the residents of the retirement home. One student wrote: "When we leave, you can see so much melancholy in their eyes and in ours for the fear of never seeing each other again, but we feel like we're giving them a few more days in their lives." The grandparents also greatly appreciated the initiative and hope the project continues in the coming months, when the students return to school. Thanks to this project, the school has become a bridge between two distant generations, only in appearance, but who in reality have a lot to teach each other.

Read also:

• Long live grandparents. Let's learn not to leave them alone. And hats off to the 7 million who help their children and grandchildren.
• Grandparents, their love and their work: precious resources for millions of families
• Grandparents' house, where elderly people find company and become useful
• Grandparents "on loan": volunteers as babysitters for the poorest and most needy families.
• In the most difficult family situations, help comes from the "community grandparents"
• "Never Alone": A group of young volunteers takes care of the elderly Florentines