BATHURST woman Ann Mader had an epiphany while listening to a discussion on the radio about senior people looking for work.
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And it has led to the creation of an online business that will start in Bathurst but roll out nationally over the next 12 to 18 months if Ms Mader has her way.
The business is called Grannies Unite and it will aim to link older members of the community, who want to use their skills and experience, with parents seeking in-home childcare.
Four "grannies" have been recruited in Bathurst, as well as some in Orange, Wollongong and on the Central Coast, and parents have already made a booking to use the service.
"We have a whole generation of people that can give, but no one to give to," Ms Mader said of her reasons for starting Grannies Unite.
"This is an opportunity for older people to feel worthwhile."
She said she was impatient with the talk of 40 being the new 30 or 50 being the new 40.
"Seventy is the 70," she said. "We are who we are, but we have a lot to offer."
Ms Mader, who has a background in teaching dance, exercise and yoga to children and adults, first came to Bathurst as part of the decentralisation of the then Central Mapping Authority.
This is an opportunity for older people to feel worthwhile.
She moved away in the intervening years, but has been back in the city for three years.
Despite the Grannies Unite name, Ms Mader said she will be looking to recruit women - and, later, men - in their late 30s and early 40s as well as those who are older.
They will be subject to the usual vetting and screening, she said, but the main attribute she will be looking for is that they love caring for kids.
Ms Mader said she had her own period of feeling a bit lost and wanting to contribute, so knew how it could affect someone’s self-esteem.
“It’s a really lonely feeling,” she said. "You can only do your nails and hair so many times.”
Ideally, she said, the business will be about intergenerational learning: the kids learning from the grannies and the grannies learning from the kids.
The other benefit of having a member of the older generation come into the house, she said, is that they will bring with them a calmness that is needed more than ever in an age of constant information.
“There is so much coming at us all the time, it’s nice to just calm down,” she said.
