Who Are Grandparents?

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A really astounding fact is : according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1.3 million children are entrusted to their grandparents every day

I find these statistics interesting.  Think about this...

• kids are generally of the opinion that they are smarter than their parents

• kids generally disagree with every decision their parents make about their own or their kids lives

• kids  believe that their parents  really have little or  no idea what they are doing.

Well, here's the thing..

When they grow up and have kids of their own - which group of individuals is generally the first choice pick when babysitting or childcare is needed?.....Yeah you got it, us the grandparents, the people who supposedly had no idea what they were doing in the first place!!!!

I quite often wonder how my husband and I managed to raise three children without the 'expert help and guidance' of at least one of our children!!'

What did we know or understand about bringing up kids in our day?

As luck would have it,  at around the ripe of  old age of  10years,  our kids  turned into walking encyclopedias on child rearing and pretty much everything else that we as parents needed to know, say, do, wear and buy. Did this mean we had fighting chance of getting through this?

Oh how blessed we were being the parents of our three pubescent children...

We now had the benefit of  live-in groomers, financial advisers, menu planners,interior decorators and speech and personality therapists - who were there to:

• remind us of how little we actually knew
• how little we understood and,
• how incapable we were of doing these and most others things without their expert help and guidance.

  

This peculiar notion continued taking on a life of its own

We were reminded fairly often that we had lived in the 'olden days' when they did not have access to all the very latest and greatest 'child whisperers', research and those up to the minute methods in parenthood and child rearing  that, it would appear,  'have only been available since our kids grew up.'

Some light at the end of the tunnel

The apparent respect and appreciation of all things 'grandma or grandpa' was that one little blessing in disguise that we, and no doubt many other parents,  from time to time, have been ever so grateful for. Though we had to accept that the 'cool thing to do', by both the 'grandies' and the kids,  was to make it quite apparent that my husband and I were  considered to be 'the enemy'.

Then nature worked her magic.

Now grown up, (or, as best as they could be, having been  disadvantaged by having us as their parents) our kids got married and oh joy, oh joy...... started having kids of their own.  They could finally demonstrate, in very practical terms, how this parenting thing should be approached.

We are 'the grandparents', we are cool and we remain gracious about this and we smile in agreement (keeping the evil grin just lurking beneath the surface). We do exactly as we are told, listening intently as they, as parents, give us their solid, good advice together with the value of their expert opinions .

It is also round about now that we must accept that as 'old people' (grandparents) it will be necessary for our children to 'correct' us every now and again.  But the thing is...and this is the beautiful part.... our grand kids think we are cool -  and whats more, they think that their 'Mum & Dad don't have a clue about cool, what it is, or what it means' .

Grand-kids are just plain ...  the 'coolest dudes'

Now we can just enjoy getting on with the serious business of being grandparents  - and grandparents and 'cool dudes' get along great, oh yeah.. they do!!

Who are Grandparents - Taken from papers written by a class of 8-year-old children...(author unknown)

• Grandparents are a lady and a man who have no little children of their own - but they like other people's.

• A grandfather is a man, and a grandmother is a lady!

• Grandparents don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the shops and give us money.

• When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.

• They show us and talk to us about the colors of the flowers and also why we shouldn't step on 'cracks.'

• They don't say, 'Hurry up.'

• Usually grandmothers are fat but not too fat to tie your shoes.

• They wear glasses and funny underwear.

• They can take their teeth and gums out.

• Grandparents don't have to be smart.

• They have to answer questions like 'Why isn't God married?' and 'How come dogs chase cats?'

• When they read to us, they don't skip. They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again.

• Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don't have television because they are the only grownups who like to spend time with us.

• They know we should have snack time before bed time, and they say prayers with us and kiss us even when we've acted bad.

• A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived.  ''Oh,'' he said, ''She lives at the airport and when we want her, we just go get her. Then when we're done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.''

• Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good things, but I don't get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

• It's funny when they bend over; you hear gas leaks and they blame their dog.

So,  onward and upward grandparents of the world, bless ya, each and every one one. Enjoy and make the most of this period of  time in your life when not only do your grandchildren believe you are smart.....but hey!! your kids, for the first time in their lives,....probably agree with them.

Celebrating Being a Grandparent!

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