THE YOUNG AND THE OLD

There are some 'shoulds' that do well to be ignored.  Society has a tendency to demand such things as 'respect', 'apologies', 'that one should not think certain kinds of thoughts', and many more rules that make little sense.  Respect is earned, not granted by demand.  Apologies only have meaning when granted without request or coercion.  One has no control of the kids of thoughts that pop into one's head nor of obsessive sumination.

As a senior, I have certainly lived life more fully than young people,  compared to  one in their late teens or twenties. We all operate from a very different history which has molded us.
As we grow older, the knowledge we have accumulated often becomes obsolete.  A student of technology may take a robotics course as a freshman; but it is probably  obsolete by the time they are seniors,

While older people likely to have had more life experience,  how useful is it if much of what they know has now been replaced by better procedures, technology, and usefulness.  As a grandmother I could pass a bit (though not very much) useful information about what to do with babies to my daughters.  As a great grandmother my experience is as useful as trying to get someone to understand what a 78 is and what machine might have played it and changed it in less than 3 minutes for each song.  Seat belts and child safety seats had not been invented or thought of when my children were babies and toddlers.  Therefore, why should I expect respect for anything but my actions and not what I know?

A major key in familial relationships, for harmony, is to accept the people around you for who they are without the illusion that you can make them be who  or what you may WISH them to be.  A happy life is when a person can accept who they are  through all of life's stages.