You may have noticed that the textbook chapters skip midlife entirely. Most lifespan texts cover parenting and the empty nest phenomenon associated with children growing up and leaving home and then j

You may have noticed that the textbook chapters skip midlife entirely. Most lifespan texts cover parenting and the empty nest phenomenon associated with children growing up and leaving home and then jump right into death, dying, and grieving. Since I am in the middle of midlife- and have about 50 more years to go - I am hoping that you can tell me something, ANYTHING, positive about the years to come. Ha Ha! It CAN"T be all mid-life crisis and empty nesting can it???? and then just death to look forward to??? Please, please tell me that there is more to midlife than that!

1. Choose a POSITIVE topic that relates to mid life (ages 35-65) and present research on your topic to the class. This can be a really fun presentation. Topics can cover cognitive development, changes in self-esteem, finances, sexuality, etc. You will need to start this research early! It is remarkable difficult to find positive info about midlife. You may want to try the AARP ( the American Association of Retired Persons) Website as a place to begin. The website probably won't have research articles but they do have lots of info on aging well. You can also interview family members about their experience of midlife. It might be very interesting to have several ages represented in the class's presentations. I bet 35 year olds have different things to say about their aging experiences than 65 year olds do!

2. Prepare a PowerPoint or Prezi describing the age that you chose and your topic about positive aging during midlife. You should include the research articles covered, a reference page, video clips, etc... Pretend that you are presenting it live in class. If you are ambitious you can film yourself making the presentation and post it! It should be a minimum of ten minutes and a maximum of twenty if it were done live. Remember that this is the only information on midlife that your class mates will receive so do it up! College level presentation , references, etc...

3. Define your topic or terms, tell us about your topic, and then present at least one research article - preferably a synopsis of several- on your topic.

I am so excited to see your presentations! I hope that you will have some good news for us!