Grandparents Day
Mark your calendar. Grandparents Day is coming. Founded by Marian McQuade of West Virginia to entice grandchildren to tap into the wisdom of their grandparents, it gained momentum when President Jimmy Carter proclaimed in 1978 that Grandparents Day would be celebrated the first Sunday after Labor Day which this year will be September 8th.
Mothers Day and Fathers Day are well advertised and celebrated. Why has Grandparents Day been almost forgotten? Maybe we, grandparents, are partially to blame. Why don’t we make sure our children know about the day so that families can get together to mark the occasion and the grandkids can listen to stories from the past. I know my grandchildren are always fascinated when I recount how things were when I was young (in my case when dinosaurs roamed the earth!). Seeing how things have changed over the years, it makes them aware that they too will see changes they can’t even begin to fathom at the moment.
Grandparents Day should be a day of celebration in all families, but unfortunately it is not. As we all know, many grandparents do not have access to their grandchildren for a variety of reasons. It’s a terrible injustice, except of course in rare exceptions where the grandparents may be a bad influence on the young ones. For the others, it is no doubt a day they prefer to forget. There are several organizations which help grandparents reconnect with their grandchildren, but being open to discussing frankly with adult children/in-laws the source of the problem is not without its merit.
A cousin of mine can certainly attest to that. She decided she had enough after being barred from seeing her three young granddaughters because of her son had died. She decided she would no longer deprive her grandchildren of the benefits of having a grandmother in their lives. She called her daughter-in-law and made her case. Both women were deeply hurting because of the death, and it took more than one discussion, but today my cousin spends time with her grandchildren at least twice a month.
Luckily for all of us, hope springs eternal!
