Grandparents pass timeless wisdom

Grandparents’ day was first celebrated in the USA in 1978 on the first Sunday after Labour Day

This Sunday was National Grandparents’ Day, which is being celebrated in the US since 1978. In the USA, it is usually observed on the first Sunday after Labour Day. The time spent in grandparents’ company is golden, as the older generation gets to pass down their values and hard-earned wisdom to the young ones.

Grandparents are an integral part of every child’s life. The stories that are told by grandparents teach children a lot. The presence of grandparents influences the life of children in several ways. Just as the parent-child bond is important for a child’s cognitive, social and interpersonal development, so is the bond shared by the grandparent and the child.

As Dr Shobha, child psychiatrist and counsellor, explains, “It is always better that your child spends quality time with grandparents, as opposed to the time spent at a crèche while you are away at work. This instills a sense of security and self-assurance in your child knowing that they are still looked after by an immediate family member. This relationship is much stronger and deeper than it would be with any other caregiver.”

The grandparent-grandchild relationship would help build what sociologists and economists call social capital — good, old-fashioned relationships based on trust and loyalty.

You don't realise how much you love your grandparents until they're gone. But you can always keep their memories alive. Children today avoid their grandparents under the belief that they may not be updated with the latest news and choices of this generation. Try chatting with old people; they might be more pragmatic than you may think. And talking with them may be, surprisingly, a pleasure. Many young men and women of today’s generation are deprived of this feeling, perhaps because they do not find a platform to talk or discuss things or may be because when they sit down to talk they don’t have a common topic to discuss.

Marian McQuade, the woman who founded National Grandparents Day, hoped it would champion the cause of lonely elderly people in nursing homes. So if you don’t have a grandparent (and even if you do), reach out and build a connection with an elderly person. It might just make you happier, too.