a world ruled by kids?
When Prue’s husband took an early retirement package she very happily retired from work too -- even though she is not yet 50 – because of what she calls the absolute humiliation of being ruled by kids.
“We’re enjoying early retirement – as much as we can with constant worries about our elderly parents in care homes,” says Prue, “but we’ve essentially accepted that our generation is very much sandwiched between elderly and youthful warriors who, between them, have inched us out and very soon the power of the elderly will fall completely into the hands of the young, bypassing us completely.”
"There are lots of people in their 50s and 60s – indeed their 70s, too – who are very apprehensive about our youthful leaders –particularly Cameron as the British Prime Minister," says Prue. "They worry that, as the older warrior generation dies off, the world will be controlled by kids – and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.”
"In the early 1990s both my husband and I suffered a massive shift in workplace culture, favoring youth over experience, and up until we decided to retire early all of our bosses have been as old, or younger than, our children."
"It was pretty humiliating."
"The older people who retired about that time, including our parents, just kept on keeping busy doing voluntary work," laughs Prue. "In fact, there's a woman who volunteers at the local care home where our parents reside who is older than many of the residents."
"Our neighbor, an amazing woman in her 80s, is just like that, too," sighs Prue. "It's no joking matter, really, that the elderly generation of old warriors appear to be outliving the rest of us."
"Three of our friends died of cancer before 55," says Prue, "and this really caused my husband and I to wake up and decide to retire early."
"The elderly generation definitely grew up in a different world to us," says Prue, "and I'm not sure what makes them so healthy and active in comparison with us 'young uns' - maybe being fully formed adults before all the nasty nuclear bomb testing took place had something to do with it!"
"Or maybe it was due to the care and respect that my generation, and the state, showered on them," says Prue. "I know that, compared to us, they had an incredibly easy ride in the workplace and politics, generally, because of the deference they received from us."
"We were always told that our time would come, but it never did," laughs Prue. "We were trumped at work by the young warriors when the old warriors retired, and if they keep up the frantic pace they think is normal then these young warriors may end up trumping us in care homes, too!"
"In the meantime, we choose to keep a low profile in this youth ruled world because the young warriors have no respect for us whatsoever,” sighs Prue, “and they know that we know that they will be choosing our nursing homes!"
Read more about Prue:
battle of the generations
job hogs
“We’re enjoying early retirement – as much as we can with constant worries about our elderly parents in care homes,” says Prue, “but we’ve essentially accepted that our generation is very much sandwiched between elderly and youthful warriors who, between them, have inched us out and very soon the power of the elderly will fall completely into the hands of the young, bypassing us completely.”
"There are lots of people in their 50s and 60s – indeed their 70s, too – who are very apprehensive about our youthful leaders –particularly Cameron as the British Prime Minister," says Prue. "They worry that, as the older warrior generation dies off, the world will be controlled by kids – and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.”
"In the early 1990s both my husband and I suffered a massive shift in workplace culture, favoring youth over experience, and up until we decided to retire early all of our bosses have been as old, or younger than, our children."
"It was pretty humiliating."
"The older people who retired about that time, including our parents, just kept on keeping busy doing voluntary work," laughs Prue. "In fact, there's a woman who volunteers at the local care home where our parents reside who is older than many of the residents."
"Our neighbor, an amazing woman in her 80s, is just like that, too," sighs Prue. "It's no joking matter, really, that the elderly generation of old warriors appear to be outliving the rest of us."
"Three of our friends died of cancer before 55," says Prue, "and this really caused my husband and I to wake up and decide to retire early."
"The elderly generation definitely grew up in a different world to us," says Prue, "and I'm not sure what makes them so healthy and active in comparison with us 'young uns' - maybe being fully formed adults before all the nasty nuclear bomb testing took place had something to do with it!"
"Or maybe it was due to the care and respect that my generation, and the state, showered on them," says Prue. "I know that, compared to us, they had an incredibly easy ride in the workplace and politics, generally, because of the deference they received from us."
"We were always told that our time would come, but it never did," laughs Prue. "We were trumped at work by the young warriors when the old warriors retired, and if they keep up the frantic pace they think is normal then these young warriors may end up trumping us in care homes, too!"
"In the meantime, we choose to keep a low profile in this youth ruled world because the young warriors have no respect for us whatsoever,” sighs Prue, “and they know that we know that they will be choosing our nursing homes!"
Read more about Prue:
Labels: early retirement, elderly warriors, ruled by kids, workplace ageism, youthful warriors
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