Retirement
The Amish time for retirement is not a set or fixed time. Considerations of health, family needs, and personal desires, all play an important part in determining when retirement occurs, usually around the age of fifty to seventy. The elderly do not go to a retirement facility; they remain at home. If the house is large enough they continue living with everyone else. Often there is an adjacent dwelling, called the Grossdaadi Haus, where grandparents take up residence. They continue to help with work on the farm and in the home, working at their own pace as they are able. This allows them independence but does not strip them of family involvement.
The Amish method of retirement ensures that the elderly maintain contact with family and relatives. Loneliness is not a problem because they keep meaningful social contacts through various community events, such as frolics, auctions, weddings, holiday, and other community activities.
If the aged become ill or infirm, then the family members take up caring for them. The parents helped raise the younger members, therefore the younger family care for them in their old age.
