Dear LPG, 

I wonder if any other pensioners have noticed just how often the younger people around them don’t pay attention when you have a point of view that is not the same as theirs.  

This is often especially true of the children of us pensioners.  They always seem to know best, and while, for the most part, they honestly have our best interests at heart, we know that they are not always right. Then there is the next generation down, those grandchildren who are too old to do what you tell them but too young to know the ways of the adult world.  

It often happens when opinions come into play. Your old-fashioned ones could never possibly be worth considering because they know so much better than you, and what you have to contribute is ‘past it’ anyway.  But then there are the times when the discussion is about some decision that either you or they need to make.  There are those times when they come and ask you for advice and then completely ignore it, and let’s not get started on the endless advice that your grown-up children know is best for you, even though they often live miles away and know relatively little about the intricacies of your day-to-day lifestyle. 

I was thinking about this recently and came across some interesting theories about convincing the people around you to appreciate the value of your thoughts and even change their thinking to align with yours. As you can imagine, much of this information is on the Internet and is designed for young people in work settings, but we oldies have to adapt. 

I have learned that the secret to convincing people to accept your way of thinking is often the words and phrases you use when they matter.  

I am saying they only sometimes work, but I have had some success since adopting some of the principles I have learned.   I hope I have left some internet instructions that might make a difference during the following conversation where you want your opinion to count a little more and hope that by sharing them, more of us oldies might be taken more seriously…

LA, Abbey Wood.

LA offers her online version of the persuasive tips that might help… 

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