Retirement activities

M

mickpyrmont

Registered User
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Hi all, my Father recently retired after working hard all his life but unfortunetly he doesnt know what to do with himself now. He doesnt play golf so thats not an option. Just wondering has anyone elses parents found themselves in a similar position and if so what activities did they get up to, just looking for ideas and hopefully i could get him invloved in something
 
has he any interests e.g working with his hands? is he still very mobile? is he very social or would he be happier isolating himself concentrating on one thing?
 
Depending on where he lives he might be able to do voluntary work for somewhere like www.dspca.ie

You/he could have a look at to see if there is anything of interest there.
 
awh maybe he could get a dog to walk have a nice companion. Bingo is always fun. voluntary work is a great idea. i do that for the gspca bring all the dogs out for walks because there in the cages for 23hrs of the day. very satisfying.
 
I went to Uni and did a psycholgy degree after I retired in 1997. I am sure there must be a lot of courses that your father would find interesting, e.g. languages, DIY skills etc.

It was important to me to do something that stretched my brain and i'm sure that I'm not alone in that.
 
How about volunteering with Special Olympics Ireland - you'll find a list of Clubs near to where he lives on www.specialolympics.ie

I'm sure he'd find it a very rewarding yet not too time-consuming experience.

Sim
 
Join a Bridge Club
Take Adult Ed Classes or go for Further Education
Bowls, Swimming, Woodturning,
Bowling
Join a Book Club/Theatre Group/Art/Choir
Volunteer for Simon/Cubs/Scouts/Charity shop
Help kids with homework
Offer his services to a literacy group for adults
Babysit/Dogsit
Train as a tour guide if he has an interest in history
etc etc etc
 
Your Dad appears to have spent his years working hard but not cultivating friends or interests. I am not sure if you are going to change anything overnight. If he initially had the personality or drive to cultivate other interests he would have done so by now. If he is based in Dublin I would suggest logging on to the UCD Adult Education website and order a booklet of both daytime and evening courses that are available. You will probably find however that he will make excuses not to take up any of these. Let us know how he gets on.
 
Is he on his own or is your mother still with him?

Either way, he might consder guided tours abroad. It's a great time to visit places he might not have time to earlier in his life and the guided tours are a gret way of meeting other people of his age. This might lead to new friendships with like-minded people that he can develop on his return.

I'd also agree that a part-time job would be a good idea. It's great for giving a sense of purpose and social inclusion.
 
It sounds that your father like many of his generation spent so much of his life working and providing that he does not know how to make the change so like many other posters have suggeated maybe a part-time job is the answer.

A friend of ours was made redundant from a long hours stressful job at age 57. Was unemployed for a couple of months, first time in 41 years. Decided to take a basic factory assembly line job and enjoyed it so much he was never going to manage anything again.

Three years later he was offered another job 4 days a week @ 6 hours per day. Then at 65 decided to cut it to 2 days a week and now at age 68 works 1 day (of his choice) and works ocassional days (paid) with a charity.

He is also a driver for Meals on wheels (voluntarily) and belongs to Active retirement group. Does some DIY for the family.

Gradual retirement is the way to go if you can get it. It's changing from the busy life to nothing that is the killer.
 
Thanks to you all, some great advise there that i can research further and hopefully get him involved in something
 
he could get a camper van- lots of rallies all around ireland and UK - very sociable...also very popular with retired people - there are two campervan clubs in ireland -

http://www.motorcaravanclub.net not sure about the other one..

have a look at the Camac Valley camping site off the Red cow roundabout - lovely site, very clean and secure - he can check out a few vans and ask questions of the owners..

you may get better price if you buy on continent and bring it to ireland rather than buying from irish dealer....
 
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