Are Grandparents Passé?

We were dropping one of our teenaged granddaughters off at the airport and she was eager to get to her gate, even though the plane didn’t board for another 55 minutes. I wanted to say something and she took the time to listen.

We had just had a houseful of grandchildren (with two more coming in August). For us, it would be a perfect summer of visits by grandchildren. In fact, five of the seven visited without parents, which was our preference even if the parents didn’t show up for other reasons.

I told our departing granddaughter that we were delighted that she visited us and we hoped she’d come back next year. I explained that bother her grandmother and I had lived with some of our grandparents when we were young and we thought it was normal that grandchildren spent time with their grandparents.

My wife and I both suspect that today’s grandchildren don’t think the same way our grandchildren thought. Grandparents? Aren’t they the ones who send me money on my birthday?

To be fair to our grandchildren, they are scattered about the country in two time zones and getting to central Pennsylvania is not the easiest thing to do. And my wife and I did live with our grandparents so their presence was natural to us. I had friends whose grandparents lived in town and they saw them regularly.

I do wonder about today’s grandchildren. Do they think their grandparents are passé? I’m glad ours don’t.