How Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds helped drive research, inspire educators, and reached South American shores
Eric and Ruby, from the first season of the show, demonstrated intergenerational practice to audiences at home. (Nigel Wright)
It's the TV show that's captured hearts all over the world.
But Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds, and then, Old People's Home for Teenagers, has done more than just elicit warm and fuzzy feelings.
The series that combats loneliness in older Australians has attracted millions of viewers since it began in 2020.
Its impact is being felt far and wide, with the benefits experienced by the people you've gotten to know through the TV screen being echoed in the real world.
From the TV screen to the real world
Communities across the country have been inspired by the show, creating their own intergenerational playgroups and programs.
More than 40 centres have sprung up, pairing toddlers with Australians 65 and older in structured activities.
Co-director and owner of The Herd in Mornington, Victoria, Anna Glumac, was already working with her sister on creating an intergenerational centre when the first season aired.
Sisters Anna and Fiona Glumac run an intergenerational centre in Mornington, with childcare and aged care under one roof. (Supplied: Anna Glumac)
She says it became a lot easier to convince people of the merits of their idea once people had seen the show, especially when trying to secure funding.
"What was unique about our model is we wanted to have the childcare centre and aged care facility under one roof and have it as a living, breathing community," she says.
"When we're doing tours, so many parents talk about how amazing Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds was.
"Parents are wanting to send their children here because they know of the impact on the children, but also they want their children to help bring some of the benefits to the adults as well."
Ms Glumac says she watches relationships blossom in real time every day.
"So many of the grandfriends have remarked about how the program brings them so much joy and makes life worth living.
"It's also really regulating and soothing for some of our neurodiverse children.
"It appears to be a genuine love that goes both ways," she says.
Their model of care includes activities co-designed by the adults and the children, older Australians volunteering for a couple of hours at a time, and spontaneous interaction.
The federal government has also taken an interest in intergenerational programs, giving Playgroup Australia millions in funding in the most recent budget to open more centres that bring children and older Australians together.
The institute has compiled a map of intergenerational programs, many of which have sprung up since Old People's Home for Four Year Olds and Teenagers started airing. (Supplied: Australian Institute of Intergenerational Practice)
Inspiring stories help drive research
Emeritus Professor Anneke Fitzgerald had been working in intergenerational practice for more than a decade.
She's been thrilled to watch the field gain public recognition, and with it, awareness about the benefits.
"Everybody knows instantly what we're talking about now," she says.
"Awareness around intergenerational practice and its benefits to society has certainly developed a lot quicker as a result of the ABC series."
Structured activities are the basis of intergenerational care, which is experiencing a boom in popularity. (Nigel Wright)
Not only has it raised the profile of her academic work at Griffith University, Professor Fitzgerald started the not-for-profit Australian Institute of Intergenerational Practice (AIIP) to bring the ever-growing area of research and practice under one roof.
She watched in awe as after every season, more and more people started visiting the Institute's website.
"There's people that thought, 'Oh, I can do something similar! Where can I go?'
"It's had an impact on thinking about the human rights of older people and not writing them off as an non-valuable drain on society."
"To be really dramatic, our work at Griffith and our work at AIIP, heavily supported by the work of the ABC…has the potential to change the social fabric of Australia."
Anneke Fitzgerald has enjoyed watching the growing public interest in her work. (Supplied: Anneke Fitzgerald)
Millions for large-scale studies
The show has also contributed to the creation of a large-scale clinical trial, being run by Associate Professor Ruth Peters at the University of New South Wales.
She says the project received three successive grants — the most recent of which was $3.7 million — which almost never happens in academia.
The first season with teenagers saw the fostering of friendships between 16 year olds and older Australians, like Cecilia and Dora. (James Gourley)
"This really does stem out from the show," Associate Professor Peters says.
"After the first season of Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds, a couple of my now-colleagues in the community had a preschool and were saying they really wanted to do it."
She says while there's a growing body of evidence around intergenerational practice, further research was needed to figure out the best way to do it for maximum benefit.
Thus the four year trial was born, running across 40 preschools in the Sydney area, and started in July.
Associate Professor Peters says once a week the children and adults take part in structured activities, just like on the TV.
The researchers are collecting adult data on cognitive function, physical ability, mood, quality of life and sleep, while they'll measure skills like empathy, language, collaboration and social engagement in the children.
"We really want to come together now to try and do this in an evidence based way," she says.
"I honestly think without the show that would never have happened and maybe we would never have had that initial conversation to start investigating it.
"We're still looking for adults for the trial, so older adults in the Sydney area, please come along!"
Global interest in 'The Australian Model'
The power of the Old People's Home series has been felt thousands of kilometres away in South America.
Professor Fitzgerald recounts her shock after receiving a phone call from the Uruguay ambassador to Australia.
The show had just finished streaming in Uruguay and the ambassador was asked by representatives from an aged care and childcare facility to connect them with Australians working in the field.
"They wanted to adopt the 'Australian Model'. I didn't know there was such a thing as the 'Australian Model'," she laughs.
"We strongly recommended the work should be a topic of research."
So keen were researchers to get involved that Griffith University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Uruguay Catholic University.
"We know there is a lot of interest in intergenerational practice and research in South America, with Uruguay leading the way."
Season two of Old People's Home for Teenagers will premiere on ABC TV and iview on October 3. (Ben Symons)
Professor Fitzgerald's attention is on building more educational programs to train a workforce ready for an intergenerational future.
"We definitely need to create a whole new career, that of the intergenerational practice worker.
"This is not extracurricular, it needs to be part of our lifelong learning thinking and we need some funding to do that."
Old People's Home for Teenagers Season 2 premieres on Tuesday October 3 at 8:30pm AEST on ABC TV and iview.