Grandparents Month
In the USA, Grandparents Day is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day.1 This year, that date falls on Sunday, September 13th. In September, we will be posting several articles that highlight significant remarks regarding grandparents made by various modern Christian figures. Grandly holds that much of what grandparents need to do is not specifically Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox. We might have more in common with a devout Mormon on morality than we do with a morally lax Catholic movie star or an evangelical football coach. Dr. James Dobson, an evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family, kicks things off.
Dr. Dobson describes grandparents as an integral part of the family’s spiritual and emotional fabric. He wrote, “Grandparenting is not merely a pleasant extra, but a vital calling.” He went on to say…
“Grandparents have a God-given responsibility to influence their grandkids, and most of them are more than willing to fit the bill. There is a very helpful book that may stimulate some ideas. It is called The Gift of Grandparenting, by Eric Wiggin. Here are some excerpts from it that will, I hope, not only motivate single parents to look to their parents but will inspire grandparents to get more involved with their grandkids. These are the considered words of Eric Wiggin.”
Listen
“Young people who visit their grandparents, with few exceptions, do so because they want—often very badly want—the companionship of their elders. The same grandmother who beat me at checkers when I was nine became a friend in whom I could confide when I was 19. She wrote me letters, long and full of family news. When I came home from college, we talked. And you know what? Grandma wanted to listen to me! I soon found that she was fascinated with what I had to say, and she had more time to listen to me than my parents. For your teen or single young-adult grandchildren, perhaps the most important ‘entertainment’ you can give them is to listen when they talk.”
–Eric Wiggin, The Gift of Grandparenting, as quoted by James Dobson
Care
“As grandparents, we desire to help usher our Brandons and Meghans across the threshold of adulthood. We can best do this when we realize that these youth, who much of the time are carefree and happy, are also suffering through the most trying years of life—from puberty to young maturity. We should gently criticize their behavior when we must and be unafraid to set guidelines when they’re entrusted to our care. Even as we wouldn’t question another adult’s toupée or hairdo, we avoid personal remarks about our emerging adult-teens whose souls may have been torn and trampled already in the school gauntlet or by conflicts at home.”
Sacrifice
“Grandparents of today are needed in a supportive role far more often than in the past. A surprising number of them have been given full daytime care of their grandchildren. (They raised their children many years ago and thought their parenting job was done but they have far more than a supplementary role.)
They are faced with one of two very difficult choices: either accept significant responsibility for raising another generation of kids, or watch them suffer from sub-par care from the parents or placement in a day care facility that rotates their care among care-givers. Yes, they love their jobs! But that’s just it, they love their jobs. This is not the way families were designed to function. It represents another aspect of marital disintegration.”
–Excerpts from Dr. James Dobson’s book, Bringing Up Boys, as edited by Mike Shaughnessy
Here at Grandly we thank God for all of those grandparents who are sacrificing their “good old days” in service to those who may never remember their sacrifice. In our Grandly circle, we honor you!
The Dobson materials were edited by Mike Shaughnessy.
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1 It is celebrated in many other countries in July but there is no one universal day that all Christians celebrate it. (The same is true of Mother’s Day.)