Rusty Strait | Senior Reporter
All too often, grandmothers are taken for granted in a world where two paychecks barely cover expenses. When parents are so busy trying to keep a roof over the family abode, grandmothers bear many behind-the-scenes responsibilities.
Probably the number one importance of grandmothers is childcare. They babysit, taxi children back and forth to and from school, make doctor’s appointments and are the go-between with parents and school counselors. They often know more about their grandchildren than their parents do.
Most of today’s grandmothers will step up in any situation because they are generally retired and have the time and inclination to be involved in their grandchildren’s lives. Whereas parents are so busy with everyday living, a grandmother will give her undivided attention to a grandchild’s problems. They listen and they teach. They are invaluable when a grandchild wants to know about who came before their current relatives. They are the family historians and know things about the family heritage that their children are too busy to recall or hand down to their children. They often have personal knowledge of the families of two or three past generations since there is a generational change every twenty years.
They are equipped to intercede when parents are too harsh or don’t understand their own child’s feelings because the parent often is inconsiderate of their own parents’ feelings.
In generations, past young children learned about life and its pitfalls from their parents about life. In the hustle and bustle of today’s fast-moving society, they don’t care about the many nuances of life and fail to pass them along to their children. Grandma does. If a parent’s everyday life creates a division between parent and child, a grandmother is there to fill in the gap. Children are prone to criticize their parents, but not their grandmother.
Grandmothers are a treasure chest of experience. They keep secrets because they understand a child’s curiosity, whereas a parent ignores it or squashes it. It is parents who denounce book content in the school library. No one ever heard of a grandmother who would deny a child knowledge. I know from personal experience how my grandmother would explain things to me in a way I could understand without being led off in the wrong direction. A parent can also be too protective in not allowing their children to be prepared for the life ahead of them. Not a grandmother.
Grandma is the best arbiter for a youngster when family adults quibble or get into an all-out verbal brawl. Scientific study has shown that maternal grandmothers are more important to a child than the paternal ones. The maternal grandmothers are almost always the first ones to bond with a grandchild. Maternal grandmothers pass one of their chromosomes to their granddaughters and none to their grandsons.
A child may become totally impatient with their parent but rarely with a grandmother. She will be tolerant and at the same time, teach tolerance and respect to others in a language that a child will more readily accept. The love of a grandmother is akin to no other, not even that of a parent.
Grandmothers are a walking encyclopedia of proper diets. How often do we hear from a child, “My grandmother is the best cook in the world?” That’s because they have all those years of kitchen psychology. If a grandchild doesn’t like broccoli, grandma will disguise it in a way that creates a taste for it. She is a genius at the kitchen stove and “from scratch” cooking.
During a time when, out of fear, more and more children are being home-schooled – it is the grandma who is the better home teacher. Why? She has the time, experience and patience to instill in a child things that no teacher and few parents can offer.
With single parenting being such a big part of our society today, more and more grandchildren are residing with their grandmothers both part-time and full-time. A working mother is simply stretched for time and provides a responsible home for their offspring. Look around and see how many of your children’s children reside with grandma. Children who live with grandma are far more well-behaved and respectful. They also pick up a great deal of old-world elegance that their parents seemed to have skipped over.
A recent study revealed that children find unique acceptance in their daily relationships with grandmothers, which benefits are emotional and mental.
All in all, grandma is the haven for a child in a disturbing family situation. They are tolerant, understanding, forgiving, informative and loving. There is no other person on earth who compares to them. So if you have a loving grandmother, treasure, protect and adore her. She is the crown jewel in your life. Just sayin’
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