50 Photos Of Older People Being Absolutely Wholesome

What would we do without our grandparents?

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• July 21, 2021

A subreddit called r/AdorableOldPeople is dedicated to people sharing pictures of older people being wholesome and adorable. Even though the name itself may seem somewhat demeaning to some people, the content is lovely. The photos and screenshots of message exchanges show how full of life and love the senior citizens are.

Age is just a number and shouldn't influence how we feel inside, and these people are the best proof. For example, a philosophy teacher Randall Horton says that even people in their 50s like to believe they are in their "young 50s" or that they look good "for their age."

1. A 76-year-old retired Air Force Colonel and his 4-year old granddaughter

2. "My Grandpa Has Alzheimer’s And Can’t Always Remember His Grandkids Names, So We Custom Made A Shirt That Has All Our Names And It’s His New Favourite Shirt"

3. "Doris Absolutely Destroyed Me In Words With Friends"

4. Old school manners

5. Uncles

6. "My 97-Year-Old Grandma Doesn’t Use Computers, But I Found A Meme Years Ago That I Thought She’d Like So I Sent It In The Mail. Turns Out She’s Kept It At Her Bedside Ever Since"

7. The best neighbor ever

8. Cosplay is for all ages!

9. "My Grandad Being All Giggly When He Was Chatting About His Childhood And All The Mischief He Got Up To Behind His Mothers Back!!!"

10. Grandpa jokes.... the best

11. "This Is A Selfie My Dad Sent Me"

12. "I Live Abroad. My Grandparents Called Me To Urgently Check The Security Web Cams Of My House Back Home. Turns Out They Called So I Could See Them Standing With A Heart And Waving At Me"

13. Wonderful re-creation

14. "Did A Christmas Scavenger Hunt. This Is What My Grandpa Sent For 3 Wise Men"

15. "My Mom Died Of Covid June 8th. I Found This Her Writing On The Back Page Of This Blank Book I Gave Her Years Ago"

16. The purest thing....

17. "This Is My 96 Year Old Grandma, Willie. She Survived The Great Depression, Being Hit By A Fire Truck And Being In A Coma, And Losing Her Husband At A Young Age. Now She Drinks Liquor And Smokes Cigars, Still Lives Alone And Hits On Younger Men. I Love Her With Everything I’ve Got"

18. HI MILLY

19. "My Parents Sent Me This From Their Retirement Community Today"

20. Bravo, Maureen!

21. A man suffering from vitiligo creates dolls to make kids with the same condition feel better.

22. "Pink Hat Guy"

23. When you want to join a march, but can’t walk....

24. Let’s call it Bob....

25. "My Mom Is Almost In Her 60’s And Started Her Weight Loss Journey Around This Time Last Year! 85 Pounds Down!! It’s Never Too Late To Change Your Life!"

26. This man is taking picture of his wife without her realizing it

27. "Dad Went Out In The Snow To Feed The Birds, And Made A New Friend! It's Official, He's A Disney Princess Now"

28. "My Grandmas 94 Last Week. She Has Dementia And Is Bed Ridden But She Still Has Her Good Spirits. She Loves This Teddy Bear My Cousin Gave Her. So If Me And My Mom Are Feeding Her And She Starts To Fiddle, She Holds Onto It. Love Her So Much"

29. "Sent A Picture Of A Final Fantasy 7 Character To My Mum Thinking She Looked Like Her, She Recreated The Look And Pretty Much Nailed It"

30. She Said "I Haven't Been Carried Like This Since My Wedding Day"

31. "I Love My Grandpa So Much"

32. "This Is My 85 Year Old Physics Teacher, Him And His Wife Just Had A Light Saber Fight"

33. Good advice

34. Awesome grandma

Treating our senior citizens like this can have serious consequences. One of the examples is when health care workers infantilize older people, they tend to ignore their patients' sexual health. An article in Today's Geriatric Medicine says that "prevailing misconceptions among health care providers regarding a lack of sexual activity in older adults contribute to making elders an extremely vulnerable population."

The result of this unawareness is that STD rates among the aged population are increasing incredibly fast. About 80% of adults between 50 and 90 are sexually active, but they are rarely tested for STDs.

Horton, however, is more worried about what she calls "the basic harm.""As we age, we lose the respect of our fellow beings, and we lose our status as persons," she said.'"

35. "Grandpa Brings Dog To Furniture Store To Make Sure She Likes Chair Too"

36. "My Neighbor Almost Had My Mom Worried For His Safety"

37. "My Professor Is 74 And He Isn’t Confident Using Zoom So He’s Prerecorded The Rest Of Our Classes. Today, I Watched The First One. He Has A Pinocchio Doll In The Front Row Because He Isn’t Comfortable Teaching To An Empty Room. I’m Social Distancing For This Man And This Man Only"

38. "My Grandpa’s 88th Birthday Was A Few Weeks Ago. My Sister Got Him A Coloring Book And Crayons. He Says He’s Never Colored Before, But He Seems To Enjoy It. He Shows All His Visitors The Pages He’s Finished. He’s Colorblind, So Some Of The Puppies Are Pink, But He’s So Happy. He Melts My Heart"

39. He's been waiting a long time for a nice pic.

It's obvious that the subreddit and the members have the best intentions, but Horton noticed that people seem to think they are honoring our elderly citizens by treating them as kind of mascots. "Many videos on social media feature adults who are 'adorable' or 'precious' dancing, singing, or doing other activities they have no doubt done for their entire lives. The videos are presented with the exact same attitude behind videos of kittens, puppies, and babies."

"Videos of the elderly seem to take the same attitude: It is amazing that older people might still do the things they love. If they attempt to engage in the activities that make them happy, they are 'so cute.

40. "My 92 Year Old Grandpa Holding My Parrot For The First Time. He Insisted That I Take A Photo Of Him So He Could Print It Out To Show His Friends"

41. "They Dated In Their Teens, Married Different People, And Got Back Together 65 Years Later. My Grandma And Her Boyfriend"

42. "I Lost My Dad At Walmart And Ended Up Finding Him In The Garden Section Watering Plants"

43. "My Dad Thought He Was Taking A Picture Of My Kids And Accidentally Had It On Front Facing. It Fills Me With Joy That This Is What His Face Looks Like When He’s Watching My Kids. He’s A Great Dad"

44. "My Nana Is Bored So She’s Keeping Me Fresh During The Quarantine"

45. So sweet...

46. Matching....

47. "Obama Told This 90-Year Old Veteran He Didn't Have To Stand. He Said, "No Sir, You're The President"

48. "My Mom Got To Visit Snow White - Her Favorite Princess Since She Was A Little Girl. My Mom Retired Friday And This Was Her First Trip To Disney Ever"

49. "My Grandpa Mac, 92 Years Old, Just Got New Security Cameras Around His House. He Has My Cousin, Aaron, And I On The Online Login (He’s Not Too Computer Savvy) So We Can See What’s Going On. He Sends Us Random Messages Through The Cameras"

Horton says that old people are still very rational and smart. "I realize we all suffer some cognitive decline as we age and some are affected by diseases that accelerate or accentuate that decline, but young people also suffer brain injury, disease, and other limitations on cognitive ability. Age is not a sufficient reason to believe someone is stupid."

Horton highlights the issue of "elderspeak," which is characterized by treating elderly people like children. Even more, she feels this condescending language is often inappropriate for kids as well. Unfortunately, the "elderspeak" is a large problem in health care settings.

"For some reason, when people talk to older patients, they tend to slow their speech, raise the volume, and sing their sentences," Horton explained. "In addition, every statement seems to become a question and second person pronouns are replaced with first-person plural pronouns ( e.g., 'you' becomes 'we') ...

At a time when nursing home workers are sharing explicit photos and videos of older adults on social media, complaining about 'sweetheart' seems almost quaint, but both the diminutive terms and the more extreme demeaning media rob patients of their dignity and personhood."

50. Just look at that smile!

Damjan