Blog #1: Aging Stereotypes

A stereotype is a commonly held opinion concerning specific social groups or types of people. Often stereotypes are passed down from one generation to the next, without either generation truly understanding why they hold the opinion they do. Stereotypes can be both negative and positive; however they are rarely entirely true. Whether a person wants to believe it or not, everyone holds stereotypes of some sort. One of the most common stereotypes today is stereotypes of the elderly. Unfortunately, the majority of the stereotypes concerning the elderly are negative.

One of the most common stereotypes concerning the elderly is that they are poor drivers. This is a very common stereotype in the state of Florida, as our population holds a great number of elderly people. I know that I have a problem holding this stereotype, because every time I am behind a slow driver I make the comment that it must be an “old person” in front of me. Although eight times out of ten I am correct, I know that this is not a completely true statement as there are also a great deal of speeding tickets issued to elderly drivers each year. I find that even elderly people have this stereotype against their peers, as I have heard my grandfather make a comment that another elderly driver should not have their license because they cannot see properly.

A common stereotype of elderly women is that they are good cooks. I think that this is generally a true stereotype, as many women have perfected their cooking skills by the time they reach the “elderly” age. I personally know that both of my grandmothers and my fiancé’s grandmothers are some of the best cooks I know. They cook everything from memory and without fail every time their meals are delicious. I am sure however that there are some elderly women in this world that never learned to cook and are therefore poor cooks.

A third stereotype concerning the elderly is that they appreciate things a lot more than younger generations do. I believe this stereotype is nearly always true, because younger generations truly do not know how good we have it. Elderly generations remember times when there was no such thing as cell phones, not everyone had running water or air conditioning, and owning a car (much less two or three!) was a luxury. If any of those luxuries were taken away from a teenager today they would throw a fit. The elderly truly understand that the best things in life really are free.

I believe that there are a lot of stereotypes concerning the elderly, both positive and negative. I personally am at fault for holding stereotypes of all people, including the elderly. I try to be open minded and not judge someone until I truly give them a chance, however sometimes it is difficult to do this. I believe if society understood each other better there would be less stereotypes formed concerning other groups of people.