Ever heard of this phobia?

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Gerontophobia? (Fear of the elderly) People find the elderly "cute" and find interest in them because of the stories they tell. For some reason, I get uncomfortable around them, sometimes around my own grandparents (this is upsetting because I know how much grandparents want to visit their grandchildren and how much grandchildren normally love their grandpas and grandmas). I remember once part of my class and I had to sing holiday songs to the elderly and I was really uncomfortable around them. For some reason, I could NOT stand it there.

We then had to talk to them individually (I don't know why) and I felt so awkward. I tried to talk to one of them (turns out that person barely spoke English) and sat down on the floor. All she had to say was "The floor's dirty" and I stubbornly explained to her that it's not a big deal. An acquaintance of mine mouthed "Just get up" (apparently the woman was stubborn, like me) and started talking to the old woman in Farsi (the woman's native language), much to my relief. I couldn't really take being in there much longer. The environment seemed so depressing.

Why do people find the elderly "cute"?

I think a lot of people find the elderly's mannerisms to be funny to the point of it being almost cute.

I'm too distracted by my uneasy feelings....

I'm a gerontophile, if that helps?

It's not that I don't respect them. It's just I get uncomfortably tense around them and I don't know why. Maybe it's their frail state that frightens me, like when they slowly stroll across the street, making everyone else look like they're going the speed of a racecar (OOOOOHHHH palindrome!) or when they struggle with a lot of things. Sometimes I get annoyed with their need for attention (don't get me wrong, they have every right to have that) or when they INSIST to get off the dirty floor or something like that.

When I was in the nursing home, I wanted to run out of there.

Why do you find elderly cute? List some reasons why.

I don't find them cute really. In fact I used to think they were all ugly because of their wrinkles and gray or white hair. Some I found gross but that be in nursing homes or ones that needed care.

I have nothing against them but it's scary for me to imagine that will be me someday who will be that old.

In ways they are like aspies because they get naive and say things people wouldn't really say. I wonder if they lose their social skills too like the ability to read non verbal cues. They also have routines they need to follow due to their memory problems. They may repeat themselves over and over and tell the same stories over and over and talk about the same stuff over and over because their memories are getting bad so they don't remember not saying it. But the difference is, society accepts it because of their age and I bet life gets easier for aspies when they are old because then people just assume it's part of their age and assume their minds are going bad.

Do you also speak Hebrew?

I speak hebrew and english. I am not from russian ancestry tho alot of people in israel are. Since russian is a very common language spoken here, and especially old people (russians) who know only their mother tounge. so yeah

I speak VERY limited Hebrew. I started learning in the fourth grade, which makes up four years.


שלום השם של' אורה
אנ' בת ארבה אשר
אנ' אוהבת לשחק כדור סל

Let's hope I did a decent job with my second language

When my great grandmother was alive and I was really little, I used to hate having to give her a kiss because she had sharp little whiskers that felt like rubbing your face against sandpaper. I would freak out each time my Mom would insist I go over and give her a kiss. I think I probably thought the same as you do when I was your age, but I've changed some since then.

Old people have some fantastic stories to tell about how life was like back when stuff in the history books was going on, except it is not all dry and staid. I can remember talking with a widow who got married at 14 right before her new husband was shipped off to war. She had to take care of everything in their new home and survive on what was sent back to her. Stuff like that is really what learning is all about.