Author: Admin01

What do stereotypes say about young adults born between 1997 and 2012? What valuable role can grandparents play? To set aside judgment and open up the conversation, they have a key advantage: perspective. They know, for example, that every new generation has, in its own way, been viewed with suspicion by the one that came before it. It’s an age-old generational reflex: change is unsettling before it is understood. So what are these stereotypes, and how can we, today’s grandmothers, help break them down?

Too Fragile

Often described as hypersensitive, unable to handle criticism, or overly focused on mental health, this generation talks about realities that previous generations have often kept silenced.

What this might hide: Talking about anxiety, burnout, or personal limits may indicate a desire to stop normalizing silent suffering.

How grandmothers can help:

By not downplaying what the young person is expressing and by acknowledging that we may simply have been more silent than they are on these issues. Grandmothers can embrace vulnerability because if we dare to show it, it’s a step toward finding a solution.

Lazy Generation

They are accused of not wanting to work, of refusing to make an effort, or of lacking stamina.

What this might hide: many do not reject work, but rather exhaustion, toxic environments, and the idea that a person’s worth is measured solely by their productivity. Recent data shows that younger generations are looking to balance money, purpose, learning, and well-being at work.

How grandmothers can help:

First, we can replace phrases that imply “we used to work harder” with “What makes you want to give your all?” And in conversations with other adults, point out that wanting a balanced life isn’t the same as lacking ambition.

Smartphone Addicts

They’re supposedly incapable of living without screens, without social media, without seeking validation online.

What this might hide: every aspect of their lives has developed in a digital world. Aside from their negative effects, these technologies help them stay connected, learn, create, advocate, or find communities.

How grandmothers can help:

Rather than reducing phone use to an addiction, take an interest in how they use it: “Who do you follow online?” “What do you create?” And if the young person is aware of what their grandmother does online, it will also be easier to talk about the downsides or dangers.

Lack of Respect for Authority

Young people are often criticized for asking too many questions, not obeying automatically, or challenging established ways of doing things.

What this might hide: they have grown up in a world where many individuals and institutions have lost their credibility, and they also favor an horizontal management structure where everyone pitches in to find solutions. The hierarchical model does not align with their values of collaboration and autonomy. Arrogance is unacceptable, but demands for consistency, transparency, and fairness are entirely valid.

How grandmothers can help:

Help them distinguish between disrespect and critical thinking when necessary. A young person who asks “Why?” isn’t necessarily being rude. Sometimes they’re trying to understand before agreeing. However, tone makes all the difference, and it’s good to lead by example.

Impatience and High Expectations

Often portrayed as impatient and demanding, this generation has grown up in a world of instant gratification.

What this might hide: two very different things: instant gratification in various forms has always been part of their lives (though now all generations are becoming increasingly impatient) and… these young people are reaching adulthood in a costly, unstable, and anxiety-inducing environment, so their sense of urgency may stem from the feeling that the future is fragile.

How grandmothers can help:

They can put these difficulties into perspective. Grandparents know that, throughout history, certain periods have been just as destabilizing and anxiety-inducing as today, but they understand young people’s anxiety because they, too, are affected by the rapid transformation of today’s economic, social, and technological conditions. Openness is key here; we can ask them to explain what’s most challenging for them, while making it clear that we understand their world as young adults is very different from the one we experienced.

No Longer Know How to Communicate

People say Gen Z no longer know how to talk to others and that they prefer texting to real conversations.

What this might hide: they communicate differently. They switch between different forms of expression: text, images, humor, memes, videos, short messages, and online chats. It’s sometimes less rich, but sometimes not at all – it’s just a different code.

How grandmothers can help:

By creating opportunities for real conversation: walks, coffee, car rides, and shared activities can sometimes spark very meaningful conversations.

Self-Centered

They are accused of narcissism, individualism, and an obsession with identity.

What this might hide: Many young people are trying to figure out who they are in a world that is highly visible, highly competitive, and highly uncertain. Their search for identity can be interpreted as self-centeredness, when in fact it is often an attempt to find their place in the world.

How grandmothers can help:

By offering a less hurried, less performance-oriented perspective. They can remind young people that they have the right to try, to make mistakes, and not to have a clearly defined identity by the age of 20.

In short, challenging stereotypes about Gen Z doesn’t mean pretending that young people are perfect. It means refusing to pigeonhole them before listening to them.

Let’s Have a Conversation :

Do your adult grandchildren usually talk to you? Do you think grandmothers can counter pervasive myths by sharing firsthand observations about their adult grandchildren? What are the differences between being an ally and being a mentor to your grandchildren?

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What happens to our body, emotions and memory in our 50s and 60s? They take us by surprise.

Our body starts to sag; we find ourselves yelling at our kids for no reason at all, and we can’t seem to remember anything! All of this seems to happen overnight. There are even more wrinkles on our face that weren’t there the night before!

After years of coaching women on improving their health, I find there is one decision most women make around the age of 50 – whether they know it or not.

One group embraces life by being proactive with their health. They ride the upward curve of feeling great which allows them to have lots of energy to play with grandchildren and do all the things they used to do.

Others buy into the belief that it’s all downhill from there and that’s just how life happens. They believe that the 10-, 20-, 40-pound weight gain will never come off. They believe that to get rid of the pain in their knees they need to take a pill. They are resigned to the fact that they can’t exercise because they don’t have enough energy and it probably wouldn’t help anyway.

Factors That Affect Our Health

There are many factors that affect our health in a positive or negative way. They include diet, nutrition, exercise, pollution, prescription drugs, stress – this is a big one! – alcohol and many more.

In this piece, I would like to focus on exercise and answer some of the questions I get asked all the time on this topic. For example, “What kind of exercise should I be doing?” and “How long should I exercise?” and “Does the type of exercise depend on my age?”

You don’t have to be a gym rat to benefit from exercise. If you are just starting out, begin with 15 minutes per day and work your way up to 60 minutes per day. If you have been consistently exercising, I would suggest you start with the amount of time that you are used to and increase from there.

Many people believe that cardio is the way to go. Others believe that lifting weights is really a must. They are both right! You do need both, but in different percentages depending on what age you are. When you are younger and up to age 25, your workout should be 70% cardio and 30% muscle building or weight lifting. Things change as we get older.

What Happens to Muscles as We Get Older?

At around 40, your workout should include 50% cardio and 50% muscle building. After age 25, we start to lose muscle mass. Post-menopausal women have a natural decline in estrogen, which in turn increases visceral fat mass, and decreases bone mass density, muscle mass, and strength.

Low physical activity and low protein intakes are the two contributors to sarcopenia and osteoporosis and the loss of strength in postmenopausal women. On the other hand, exercise and supplement intake has the potential to slow down and even stop the loss of muscle mass.

So, after the age of 50, your workout should consist of 60% muscle building and 40% cardio. Once you reach your 60s, you should be doing weight-bearing exercises such are brisk walking, golf, dancing, yoga, etc. that will increase your muscle mass. Not only does exercise improve your bone health, it also increases muscle strength, coordination, and balance, leading to better overall health.

Some Healthy Aging Exercise Tips

Here are a few tips that I follow when it comes to exercise:

First, never let more than 2 days go by without exercising! Second, practice interval training – just 15 minutes per day, three times per week. It is super-efficient and the ideal workout for a busy schedule. Third, alternate your cardio and muscle building days. Always take one day off a week to let your muscles recover.

Finally, do what you love! If you don’t like running, then don’t run. Pick something that you love doing. You will be more consistent.

Stress and Exercise

I mentioned above that stress can be a big factor in determining our health. I find that most people who feel unwell have been neglecting self-care. So, on our day off, taking a little time out to care for ourselves makes us better at everything we do. Free from our careers and our relationships we see our personal problems in a different light.

One of my favorite pastimes is soaking away the stress of the day in a detoxifying Epsom salt bath. Enjoy!

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Which life are you designing? What are you doing to achieve healthy aging? Have you already made your decision? Are you happy with it? Remember, it’s never too late to take back your health! Please share how you have changed your exercise routines over the years.

For my 60th birthday, my children did something I didn’t know I needed and now can’t stop talking about, partly because it was thoughtful, and partly because I spent an entire morning wearing a tiara in public like a woman who had either just been crowned or recently escaped supervision.

They picked me up at 9:00 a.m. under the innocent pretense of breakfast. Mothers of adult children know that if someone else is offering to pay, you get in the car and ask no questions.

Once we were seated, they handed me my first “gift,” a baby congratulations card. Not a milestone birthday card. Not even one of those politely vague “celebrating you” numbers. No, this one welcomed me to the world. Apparently, I was starting over.

Along with the card came a tiara and a sash, which I was expected to wear immediately. And I did, because somewhere along the line you realize dignity is overrated, and besides, there are photos your children will take whether you cooperate or not.

The premise was simple. We were going to spend the day moving through the decades of my life.

Being Born

At breakfast, I represented zero. Which, honestly, felt about right before coffee.

An hour later, we wandered through a farmers’ market, one of those perfect, bustling places where everything smells like kettle corn and the hope that comes from growing things. That’s when they handed me my “10th birthday” card.

I’m fairly certain they made it themselves because it looked exactly like 1974 exploded onto cardstock. Inside a tiny box, emphasis on tiny, was a miniature Barbie Dream House. About five inches tall. The kind of thing you would normally toss into your cart while waiting in line and then regret later.

But here’s what they knew about me. I had always wanted a Barbie Dream House. And at 60 years old, standing between five kinds of tomatoes and homemade salsa, I finally got one.

Turning 20

By my 20th birthday, things took a turn. My children cannot quite wrap their minds around the fact that in Wisconsin in the early 1980s, the drinking age was 18. They look at me the way you might look at someone who casually mentions they once rode to school on a covered wagon.

To honor that era, they handed me the fixings for a Long Island iced tea, the unofficial drink of questionable decisions everywhere. Miniature bottles, fruit, the whole kit. It was both nostalgic and mildly alarming. The accompanying card featured women exercising in leg warmers, à la Jane Fonda.

Lunch Marked My 30s

If you’ve lived it, you know those were the years filled with children, noise, schedules, and the kind of exhaustion that becomes your personality. My kids didn’t try to recreate the chaos. Instead, they gave me something quieter, a framed copy of one of my favorite photos of them when they were little.

It wasn’t fancy. Just a simple frame, a simple picture.

But it stopped me.

Because I hadn’t stared at that version of our life in a long time.

We ate sandwiches at one of my favorite spots, and for a moment, it felt like all those years folded in on themselves, the little hands, the busy days, and the woman in the middle of it who didn’t realize she would miss it. (Although I did write about it for 60 & Me here – My Lasts.)

On to 40

That afternoon, we took a walk through a park, talking the way you only do when there’s nowhere else to be. That’s where I turned 40. Those were the years of teaching, parenting, multitasking, and trying to hold everything together with the organizational skills of an air traffic controller.

My children celebrated that decade with a pair of Brandy Old Fashioned socks.

If you’re not from Wisconsin, this may require explanation. A Brandy Old Fashioned is basically the official drink of the Northern Wisconsin supper club. Somewhere between the relish trays, dim lighting, and lake views, generations of Midwesterners have been quietly coping with life one muddled cocktail at a time.

And honestly, there were plenty of evenings in my 40s when meeting my sister or my husband for one of those felt less like “going out” and more like emotional maintenance.

The gift made me laugh because it was so specific, so completely tied to who I was during that time in my life. Not glamorous. Not carefree. Just a woman trying to survive motherhood, teaching, and middle age with good friends and a decent cocktail.

Soon Enough, It Was Time to Turn 50

My children handed me a card from New Girl, one of my favorite shows from that time, along with a mug, the kind with a cozy pocket to slide your hand into. I had owned one like it years ago and had broken it, which felt like a small tragedy at the time and a ridiculous thing to remember years later.

Except they remembered. And suddenly, it didn’t feel ridiculous at all.

The day ended at a local brew pub, where a few friends joined us for cake, flowers, and simple appetizers. Nothing elaborate. Nothing over planned. Just people I love gathered around in a light-filled area, which, it turns out, is my favorite kind of celebration.

That’s When My Children Gave Me My Final Gift for My 60s

Recently retired, my husband and I traded in our tent for a little more comfort and bought a Scamp camper. We have big plans to see the world, well, at least the parts with decent roads and available campsites.

My gift was a sticker for my water bottle in the shape of that little camper.

Small. Simple. Perfect.

Because by then, I understood the pattern.

Nothing about the day was extravagant. The gifts were humble, sometimes even a little silly. But every single one of them said the same thing: We see you.

Because somewhere along the way, between raising children, making meals, answering questions, finding lost shoes, and remembering everyone else’s favorite everything, you can start to feel a little invisible.

Not unloved. Just a little overlooked in the everyday parts of life. This day quietly corrected that. It reminded me that my children had been paying attention all along. To the things I loved. The things I missed. The things I once wanted and had forgotten to say out loud.

So, Here’s a Thought:

Do you have a friend, a sister, a partner, someone in your life who deserves to be seen like this? It doesn’t have to be for a milestone birthday. It doesn’t have to be perfectly planned. It doesn’t even have to last all day.

Just a handful of moments. A few thoughtful gestures. Little pieces of a life, handed back with love. From broken mugs to Barbie Dream Houses. Because sometimes, the best way to celebrate a person isn’t with something new.

It’s by remembering who they’ve always been.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

If someone threw a “decades party” for your life, what small, ordinary object would instantly represent one of your eras? What is something you secretly wanted growing up, but never received, that would still make you ridiculously happy today? Which decade of your life would surprise people the most if they really knew what was going on behind the scenes?

It seems in trying times, we hear of more people wanting to move out of the U.S. A lot of it is talk and daydreaming, but it’s not a new trend. It’s estimated that over 9 million Americans live abroad today. Retiring abroad is a growing trend for Americans, driven by a lower cost of living, better quality of life, and healthcare, with roughly 760,000 U.S. retirees receiving Social Security overseas as of late 2025, a significant increase from previous years.

People may have moved to another country decades ago for opportunity, adventure, or love. As they age, they discover something unexpected: the systems and support networks needed most feel harder to navigate. Our accents still mark us as outsiders, healthcare appointments exhaust us, and we sometimes belong neither here nor there.

Jane Barratt recently articulated this experience beautifully in her piece “Growing Older Without Familiar Ground.” She describes how aging in a place that wasn’t your cultural starting point requires constant “translation of self – precisely when the body and mind crave rest.” Her insight about how systems reduce our complex lives to administrative labels like “CALD” (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) or “LEP” (Limited English Proficiency) struck me.

Jane’s article names the problem with clarity and compassion. Now, let’s talk about practical solutions.

Build Your “Translation Team”

You need people who can bridge the gap between you and the systems you’re navigating. This might be a younger neighbor who accompanies you to medical appointments, a bilingual friend who helps with paperwork, or even a paid advocate. Start by identifying two or three people who can help with different areas: healthcare, legal matters, and technology. Sure, learning a new language would be great but is often unrealistic. I have been trying to learn Italian for years and have failed miserably.

Document Everything in Your Own Words

Healthcare providers may record “non-compliance,” but you know the real story. Keep your own health journal in your native language if that’s easier. Write down questions before appointments. Record what doctors actually say (ask permission first). This documentation becomes invaluable when you need to advocate for yourself or when family members step in to help. And tech helps – translations apps, the new Apple AirPods, etc.

Join Groups Specifically for Expats Your Age

Consider building your network before you leap. One of the hardest parts of aging in a new culture is losing the informal support systems that once defined your daily life – the neighbor who waves, the bookstore clerk who knows your name, the friends you bump into at the café. Before moving, connect with local expat groups, hobby communities, and social clubs online.

Members understand the unique exhaustion of constant cultural translation. They share tips about which doctors take time to explain, which government offices have helpful staff, and how to maintain ties to home while building community here.

Teach Someone Your Story

Find one person – a grandchild, a neighbor, anyone – and share your full story: where you came from, what you left behind, what you’ve built here. The erosion of being known is real. Counter it deliberately by ensuring at least a few people understand your complete journey, not just the accent they hear or the category they place you in.

Build Redundancy into Your Support System

Never depend on just one person for critical needs. Have multiple people who can drive you places, several friends who check in regularly, backup contacts for emergencies. If you’re relying on adult children, recognize they’re navigating two cultures too. Diversify your support network so no single person becomes overwhelmed.

Master One Key Technology Connection

Whether it’s video calls with family back home, online banking, or telehealth appointments, choose one technology that reduces isolation and ask someone to teach you thoroughly. Write down the steps. Practice regularly. This one skill can dramatically reduce the feeling of being cut off when physical mobility becomes harder.

Keep Similar Routines

Keep routines that matter to you: morning walks in a favorite park, weekend markets, book clubs, art classes, volunteer service. Create hybrid rituals that tie your past and present together – like cooking a traditional family recipe with ingredients from your new home’s markets. These rituals aren’t nostalgia trips – they’re identity keepers.

Share Your Culture

Aging abroad offers a chance most of us never had: to reinterpret aging not as loss but cross-cultural enrichment. Offer your own cultural wisdom in return – teach, mentor, host gatherings. Create space for sharing traditions in your community – from storytelling nights to cooking circles.

Belonging doesn’t only come from being understood – it comes from being invited to participate.

Advocate for Culturally Competent Care

When healthcare providers or service agencies don’t understand your needs, speak up. You can say: “I need more time to process this information” or “Can you explain this without medical jargon?” Request interpreters even if you speak the language – fatigue and stress affect comprehension. Your needs aren’t a burden; they’re legitimate requirements for good care.

Maintain Strategic Connections to Home

Whether it’s monthly video calls with old friends, subscriptions to media from your home country, or cooking traditional meals, these aren’t just nostalgia – they’re psychological anchors. They remind you of who you were before constant translation became necessary.

Balance is key: root yourself here while honoring where you came from. I read my hometown newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, every day.

The Bottom Line

Growing older in a country that wasn’t your first requires acknowledging something uncomfortable: you’ll need more support than you might have needed if you’d aged where you started. That’s not weakness – it’s reality. The key is building that support system proactively, before you’re in crisis mode. Culture shock isn’t a personal failure; it’s a phase of adjustment. Recognizing that helps us respond rather than react.

Jane’s writing helps us see what many of us feel but don’t often say out loud. Aging without familiar ground doesn’t have to mean growing alone. With connection, intention, and practical strategies rooted in community and self-care, we can transform that unfamiliar ground into a new kind of home – one rich with diversity, resilience, and purpose.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Would love to hear your stories in the Sixty & Me community. How have you navigated cultural transitions later in life? What helped you feel grounded again as an expat?