Page 27 - Seniors Today - Vol1 Issue 3

It is important to spend quality time with grandchildren
to spoil their grandchildren in a way parents
simply can’t. But beyond that, grandparents also
wield incredible influence.
Links through stories
Children love ‘long ago’ and ‘faraway’ stories.
The history of the family is passed on in the
telling of the stories. The richest families are
those in which stories have been remembered,
treasured, and incorporated into the spirit of
the family. They are the living bridge between
the past and the future of a family. When
grandchildren hear these stories they learn who
they are and from where they came; a landscape
of generations is painted in front of them.
Maintaining and passing on the family stories
is a precious gift that grandparents can give to
their grandchildren.
Haresh, 72, shares: “Every time my grandson
visits I have to be prepared with a knick-knack
surprise for him. The day is planned around
him as he likes to go to the park and play with
the animals around, which fascinate him. He
loves telling ghosts stories and at that moment
I become a child and amuse him by acting
frightened. His presence provides a sense of
fulfilment, and life feels complete. There is
nothing more I could have asked for than the joy
of spending quality time with my grandson.”
“Asal se zyaada sood payaara hota hai” – the
interest amount is dearer than the principal
amount, he adds.
Says Subhash, 65: “I do not interfere with
the upbringing of the grandchildren. I do not
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disagree with the parents in front of their
children. My wife and I plan trips to the zoo at
least two to three times a year with a food basket
and a sheet to spread on the lawn. We walk
around the zoo looking at the familiar animals,
come back home read about the animal we saw
and check out videos on National Geographic
channel on YouTube. I have done so on giraffes,
tigers, lions and have planned to take my
grandchild to the Gir National Park. Although
the trip is four months away there is a lot of
excitement as he has already learnt how to use
the phone to take photographs. I plan to get him
trekking shoes and go on hikes with him.”
Support in troubled times
Yet another grandparent, Seema, is a ‘nani’
whose two teenage children are unable to cope
with the hostility between their parents. The
marriage has broken up and the economics
of the situation does not allow for a divorce.
Rather than grieve over this she is reassuring
her grandchildren that they are not the cause of
their parents’ fights and that she is a safe person
for the children to talk to, to hear their anguish
about why their parents couldn’t learn to get
along with each other. She does this without
laying blame on either parent. She is the saving
grace in her grandchildren’s lives during this
period of tension.
No matter how carefully parents think that
they have disguised such feelings, children
nevertheless pick up the vibes and suffer from
them. Here, grandparents can provide the
SENIORS TODAY | Volume 1 | Issue 3