Happy Grandparents’ Day

For those who are grandparents, Happy Grandparents’ Day. I love being a grandparent.

In some cultures, grandparents are the family members responsible for passing forward the family history. They are the family storytellers and historians. Since I am adopted, there are no generations of family history to pass forward, but I can tell a funny story concerning their parents.

One task my children have asked of me is to keep the farm, allowing my grandchildren to experience a fraction of the life they had with raising and caring for animals. My children grew up around animals, farm animals. Responsible for the care and feeding of them as well as managing their finances to support them. They want this experience to carry forward. None of my children have property in order to raise animals, a task left to Granny.

The grandchildren love learning of some of the adventures their parents experienced as children. Learning about what their parents did as children, helps them to learn their parents. My grandchildren do enjoy a good story and I am the storyteller.

Grandparents also possess the wisdom of decades of living. We have made mistakes and had successes. We can share the wisdom of the years lived. Grandparents have knowledge to pass forward.

When Covid-19 started, people realized that stores run out of things. They also tried to find ways of providing for themselves. The most popular youtube videos were of making bread, specifically sourdough bread. Garden videos came in second. Why? Because people wanted to learn how to provide some things for themselves, since they could not depend on a store to always have what they needed.

My brother-in-law asked me to teach him how to home can vegetables and cut up a carcass of meat. He had dismissed that I knew how to do these things with every Christmas present. But two years ago, those Christmas presents might possible be a key to survival. Knowledge from years past, being used today, and grandparents hold the information.

Parents we are busy working, providing for our children and raising them to be productive adults. There are sports practices and school activities parents work into their busy schedule for their children. The schools have the children more hours a day, than parents do. With work and learning to be a parent, they do not always have the ability or experience to have fun with their children. Vacations are where family generally catch up with each other. Grandparents sometimes are the “assistance” for the family, buy picking up a child or making sure a child arrives to an appointment on time. Grandparents provide someone to stay home with a sick child, allowing parents to continue to work.

Recently, I have been assisting my daughter with getting my granddaughter to school and home, having dinner ready and listening to her day. I am not always going to be doing these activities with her, I am assistance for the short time. Sharing the responsibilities of the care of my granddaughter allows us to make memories and share life.

I am a happy grandmother. I have nine grandchildren, three step-grandchildren and three grandchildren arriving on September 14.

amtolle