No kids, by order

Press, 18 May 1984, Page 13

No kids, by order

Millie Herland reckons she has paid her dues. She and her husband have brought up four children — changed their diapers, wiped their noses, and sent them off to schools and careers. Now they have retired and live in an “adults only” community of more than 10,000 people. Kids are barred. “We did our little bit for God and country and now the patter of little feet doesn’t interest us,” says Millie, from an easy chair in the clubhouse of Century Village in Roca Raton, an hour’s drive from Miami. “We’ve worked hard all our lives and now we want to enjoy ourselves.”

Today, 10 per cent of all Americans aged over 65 live in agesegregated housing, a set-up unique in the world, according to Professor Nicholas Patricios of Miami University. And, in the opinion of

Sociology Professor Charles Longino of Miami University, another 20 per cent would like to join them if places were available and they had the money. Elderly Americans have never taken well to living in the grown children’s households, says Professor Longino. While most people over 65 still see. at least one of their children every day, they prefer to live apart from them. “Today’s elderly have ridden an economic crest throughout their lives. They are the generation of Second World War veterans. They had GI Bill education, federal housing assistance. They created the suburbs and moved up the corporate ladder in a social mobility never seen before.” As retirement incomes made it possible for the elderly to escape dependence on their children (and

air travel made visiting easy across long distances), many of them are happy to move to housing where they find great numbers of people of their own age and interests.

Max Herland is delighted and a bit amazed that at age 69 he has discovered a love of tennis and has partners galore to play with at Century Village. He prefers it to babysitting with his grandchildren. At Century Village and other senior citizen centres in Miami Beach and Miami, old people play cards, visit friends, learn languages, attend clubs, watch television, and do things they never could during their working years. They prefer the company of their peers to that of children — even their own children.

Copyright, London Observer Service.