Be Kind, Be safe, Be respectful, Be responsible, Be resilient, Be ready

Dear Parents

Welcome to term 4. I hope you enjoyed the holiday break, wasn’t it lovely to have a couple of warm days so we could enjoy the sun.

As we had such a lovely Mass today celebrating grandparents and special people I thought I would continue the theme.

Italians have a cherished proverb that says, “If nothing is going well, call your grandmother.” The following story might give an insight as to why this proverb is cherished. An educational psychologist was on her way from Perth to Adelaide to conduct a series of seminars and workshops for parents who were experiencing difficulties with their children. Sitting next to her on the flight was an eighty-year-old woman who was prone to short outbursts of conversation. During one such occasion, she declared, “I’ve had a wonderful life. I have six children, thirteen grandchildren, and eighteen great-grandchildren.” As she was completing her statement, she cast an eye over the papers and notes in front of the psychologist and said, “That all looks very important. What do you do?”

The psychologist thought, “Oh no! If I tell her what I do, I’ll be saddled with three generations of problems for the remainder of the flight!” However, she decided to tell the old lady what she did and what she was about to do. As the old lady settled back into her seat, her response was, “Now, isn’t that interesting? If you want to know anything, just ask.”

Grandparents have the experience and knowledge that come from surviving a great many years of life’s battles and, hopefully, they have the wisdom to know when to share this experience and knowledge with their grandchildren. Jimmy Carter once observed that “Because grandparents are free to love, guide and befriend young people without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out beyond pride and fear of failure and close the gap between generations.”

Besides being the keepers of family traditions and history, grandparents provide grandchildren with examples of hard work and family loyalty. Grandparents’ stories contribute to family identity by sharing knowledge about relatives, important events, family traditions, the grandparent’s childhood and the childhood of the grandchild’s parent. As these stories are passed on, the grandchild can gain a positive image of their place within the family and a positive image of ageing.

When we become parents, we automatically give our parents a new position in life, that of being grandparents. At the same time, we give our child the added security of belonging to an extended family. The relationship between grandchild and grandparent can be very life-enhancing: a grandchild can bring love, energy, optimism, laughter, youthfulness, and sometimes purpose to the life of their grandparent. At the same time, a grandparent can provide maturity, knowledge, stability, a wise ear, and unconditional love to a grandchild.

Nowadays, being a grandparent might not be as simple as you would like due to divorce, remarriage, or geographic distance. However, whether you are a grandparent, step-grandparent, or even a grandparent raising a grandchild, you are the most important person in your grandchild’s life and, as you well know, it’s not only Italians who ring their grandmother when things aren’t going so well.

“God, Father of us all, we are thankful for our life and for the privilege to be parents and grandparents. We pray for patience, guidance, and wisdom to use our life’s role, for our own benefit and the benefit and enjoyment of our extended family. Amen.”

Thank you and keep smiling

Cathy

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