My dad was in a similar situation when he retired from chemistry research. He tried a bunch of things, some of which stuck, some of which didn't but still passed the time and got him into outside interactions. In no particular order some of them were: tutoring maths to adults, tending a community garden vegetable plot, being the treasurer for the local naturalist society, research for a local history group, joining a walking club. IMHO your dad's new hobby should be to keep trying new stuff.
Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
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Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#12What about mentoring? I was looking into a local charity near me to help befriend autistic adults. No much but meeting them for coffee or a walk.
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#13Maybe give him company and go for camping, fishing or anything they like and give you sometime with them. Old people might say that they like working, but actually most of the times they are desperate for attention from their sons and grandsons.
He'd have more fun actually playing any kind of games. He has worked all his life, don't get me wrong, but why the hell would he now contribute to OSS?
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#14I wonder if he could combine math, science, even economics with photography.
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#15He can help testing open source software, that requires less programming knowledge and more of being "street smart".
Personally I would recommend getting into scale modelling, either plastic or wood. Building a scale wooden ship is thrilling and fun and takes a few month to complete so it nicely fills up your time.
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#16Take him to a soaring glider club and get him a discovery flight. It's like sailing in the sky. It's non physical, usually full of older men who do more socializing than flying, and it offers both a sense of excitement and a new perspective on the world. It might be that after a life long sedentary career, floating above the earth in tranquility will be a nice change.
It's like $100, and even if he doesn't want to continue flying sail planes it might awaken an interest in aerodynamics, and lead to model airplanes or RC planes or kite gliding or quadcopters. The last one could even lead to coding, but doesn't have to.
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#17Get him into historical wargaming and miniature gaming, my dude. There are ancients, napoleonics, 30y way, 7y war, WW1 ww2, modern, whatever the old man has interest in. It will keep him motivated until the grave.
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#18Maybe give him company and go for camping, fishing or anything they like and give you sometime with them. Old people might say that they like working, but actually most of the times they are desperate for attention from their sons and grandsons. He'd have more fun actually playing any kind of games. He has worked all his life, don't get me wrong, but why the hell would he now contribute to OSS?
A resounding yes. My father didn't care for me much in his younger days, and now he is miserable because I seemingly abandoned him and my mother, whereas they are just emotionally abusive and unwilling to change.
If you like your father, get into miniature painting and historical wargaming with him.
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#19What about mentoring? I was looking into a local charity near me to help befriend autistic adults. No much but meeting them for coffee or a walk.
When I want to mentor autistic people, I just post on HN.
Re: Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?
#20I’ve been trying to get my recently retired mother to read a large literature collection like The Harvard Classics or Great Books of the Western World. If you supplement them with specific omissions + research the best translation available, they are a great long-term project.