Daughter sent a quote to Husband and me: The only real parenting hack is to live close to grandparents.
I don’t know Peter Yang, Canadian writer, entrepreneur, and public speaker, but I agree with the 86,700 people who liked his twitter post. Daughter added five red hearts and THANK YOU! at the end of her text message. I wiped a happy tear from my cheek when I first read it, and now that I’ve lived with this quote for months, I treasure it.
Those of us who grew up near grandparents knew we could hide away at their house. Granny, my paternal grandmother, lived close by – what would be half a city block, but in Byrdstown there weren’t blocks, just roads. I often nonchalantly said, “I’m going to Granny’s,” and I’d run out our back door and be sitting beside Granny on her pea green nylon covered couch before Mom could ask if I’d finished my homework.
Granny’s screen door was always unlocked and she always had milk, Hershey’s cocoa, sugar and butter to make grainy chocolate candy.
My maternal grandparents lived a ten-minute drive away and I often visited. Although my grandparents weren’t ‘huggers,’ I knew they loved me no matter if I showed up wearing a dirty t-shirt and shorts or my Sunday dress.
When Daughter and Son were toddlers, Husband and I moved back to Cookeville; we wanted our children to be closer than three hours away from grandparents. Through the years, I watched as children and grandparents bonded in everyday life.
After Daughter and Son became independent adults, I realized that their grandparents were the stabilizers for them and me when they were teenagers. When Daughter drove to Grandmother’s (Husband’s mother), I knew she was going for more than the orange sherbet ice cream push-ups in Grandmother’s freezer. And I remember Mom said, ‘They’ll grow out of it. Just love them.’
Curious to know professional opinions about the influence of grandparents, I googled why grandparents are important. One article published by Focus on the Family rings true: We provide unconditional love, perspective, stability, adventure and connections.
Daughter’s family lives about a 1½ miles from Husband and me. These five Grands gave me birthday greetings that confirm research. My gift was a quart canning jar filled with notes that my Grands had written – most words of appreciation.
All wrote of time spent together: making a quilt, learning cursive, Purple Cow stories, reading poems and books, writing stories, playing cards and board games, putting puzzles together, bedtime back rubs, going places, spending the night. And they wrote about food: bread and rolls, pancakes with sprinkles, fried dill pickles, bacon and scrambled eggs, fried okra.
Our fourteen-year-old Grand could write the book on grandparenting. My favorite notes from her: You never give up on us even when we’re extremely aggravating. You always want the best for us, no matter what you want. You love us so much and care for us and expect nothing in return…..except our smiles.
She’s right.
Filed under: Family, Grandchildren | Tagged: Grandparents, grandparents day, quote about grandparents living close | 2 Comments »
Susan Writes 