Relations and models of behaviour of young people towards the old in our society

Given the present generation gap of the children and the youth, on the one hand, and the elderly, on the other hand, in this paper will be presented the results of recent studies in our community dealing with these problems, and will be provided pedagogical guidelines from which we should start to work with children and young people in the aim of improving quality of their relation to the elderly to a higher level. A review of the literature dealing with the relationship of the young people to the elderly population in our community, but also direct insight into the current situation in the society, show there is a negative relation of the young to the old people and aging, in all key areas of life, such as family, education, training, work etc. Fostering the correct attitude towards the elderly and encouraging mutual respect and understanding is crucial, both for the proper psychosocial development of children and young people, their education and upbringing in the desired direction, and for the quality of life and psychological well-being of the elderly population. The main objective of this paper is to reveal the actual relationship of children and young people to older people in our society, through the findings of different studies that have dealt with this problem in our community, above all, to encourage the creating of appropriate pedagogical development programs that would improve the quality of relation of the young to the old people, which will significantly contribute to the education and upbringing of the generations that come.