BayouKidz: Honoring Grandparents

Recognizing Grandparents for Their Love and Interest in Your Kids’ Lives

article by Cindy G. Foust

Happy fall readers! It doesn’t feel like fall, it actually feels like the dead of summer, with heat advisories and sticky humid days that make me wish I lived in Alaska. That’s not true, I don’t think I would enjoy living in an igloo whale watching all the time. No, it makes me wish I lived in Vermont, though. Well, I’m not sure I would want to live there, I mean, I would miss the mosquitos here…and my donkey. But I sure would like to visit, because Vermont is definitely on my trip bucket list. Definitely.

So, tell me about things in the BayouLife community. Everyone mentally preparing for the holidays? I hope so, because when I get ready to write next month’s column, they will be here. I wish the cooler weather would follow, because we enjoy nothing better on Saturdays at our house, than cool weather, college football on every television, wings on the grill and pumpkin bread in the oven. Okay, no pumpkin bread, but chocolate chip pound cake for sure.

What about you, what things do you look forward to as we transition into fall? Do you spend weekends as a family, making memories? I read somewhere recently that ask if memories were dollars, would you be rich or poor? Cheesy? Perhaps, but think about that angle for a second. I write often, and by often, at least monthly I mention, the importance of making memories with your family, and taking time to cement traditions and family time into our busy schedules. Whether it’s traveling or simply spending weekends together, it’s the glue that holds our families together. If I borrow the memory analogy, and put it in perspective with my childhood memories, I think I would be abundantly wealthy. I have written before about my childhood and the comparisons I make to living in Mayberry. Or on the Prairie. Or in Butchers Hollow. However, it’s true that I think the years I spent growing up in the 90s… okay, that’s a stretch, it was the 70s and 80s, were idyllic and sacred.

Families and friends were cherished relationships and life was simple…no social media, no video games (well, I did get rather brilliant at Miss Pac Man at the arcade), limited television channels (we had 3); no significant distractions to keep us from being together. True story: every Friday night you could find our family huddled around the television (located in the living room, it was the only one in the house) trying to figure out who shot J.R. Wait. Or if Captain Stubbing was going to shipwreck the Love Boat. Am I dating myself, or what? Glory days. A huge part of that charmed childhood was the role my grandparents played in our lives. We were fortunate that they lived right next door to us. I actually ran away to their house one time, because, well, my grandmother made me homemade French fries and turned the electric blanket on for me an hour before I went to bed so I would be toasty, so who wouldn’t want to live in grandparent Utopia? But truthfully, it was love I felt when I walked in the door, attentiveness, and a sincere interest in my life and what I was doing. What I wouldn’t give to be able to walk in Bitsy’s house some days and have her start falling all over herself to make “Lou” (shortened from Cindy Lou… to Lou Lou… to ultimately Lou) whatever my heart desired.

What my heart actually desires is to be able to call 387-7336 and hear her voice, get her input, have her tell me what was happening on Fox News or what the forecast was. But standing in my grandparent’s place now, are my parents, and Scott’s parents, who make grandparenting look easy. Let me tell you something, you grandparents out there are like the grandparent occult, who see no wrong in these grandkids. Yes, I’m talking to you, and you know who you are. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, my parents, my dad in particular, are NOT the same people who raised me.

I’m reasonably certain, in fact, that E.T. the Extra Terrestrial extracted my daddy from his Archie Bunker chair and put him on a UFO. Yeah, that’s it, and E.T. left this unknown, unidentifiable grandparent in his place. I am a modern-day scientist I tell you, because there is no way they are one in the same person. None. Anyone out there have these same type grandNinjas in your family?

All joking aside, Scott and I feel very blessed, nonetheless, to have loving, attentive and supportive parents who love our children and dote on them shamelessly.

That’s why with National Grandparents Day being September 8th, I thought I would spin this month’s column into a sort of nudging for ALL of us to do something really special for the BayouLife grandparents who did the parenting game long before us.

In case you think I’m making this holiday up, in August, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation declaring this day as a day of recognition of grandparents, citing the statute it was based on “to help children become aware of the strength, information and guidance older people can offer.” I love those words. Also, the flower given in honor of this day is appropriately the forget-me-nots. So, what to do, what to do? I say first, sit down with your children, no matter their ages, and talk to them about how fortunate they are to have these pillars in their lives, who are built in cheerleaders. These same pillars are the ones who attend their activities, slip them money, tell corny jokes and give them hugs that take their breath. I miss Bitsy’s hugs and I miss her wit, but most of all I miss her wisdom, her insight, her guidance.

Next, carve out some special time for your kids and their grandparents, whether you go out to eat or cook at home, make the time special and about being with their grandNinjas.

Finally, grandparents aren’t concerned with gifts and such, but man, do they love a good handwritten card or note (a dying on the vine habit) from their grandchildren. So easy, but they live for that kind of stuff, just a little attention and a few kind words and it makes their life.

So, what says you, readers? You with me on this? Don’t read my column and scroll on past to the next one about some great fashion trend. Incidentally, I know you know I know I didn’t write about fashion for this month’s fashion focus and it’s because I’m very worried, VERY, that if I show off my fashion prowess, the New York fashion houses, like Vogue, will be after me to contribute to their monthly magazines, and I just don’t have time, readers. I am, after all, very busy and important. But I did write about treasured family members who are probably very well dressed, so that counts for something, right? So, get to it readers, get those plans rolling, get the entire family involved in the process. Plan a surprise party for them! Go bowling! Go to the movies! It doesn’t matter what the plans are, it just matters that you are together, making memories so you and your family, too, will be abundantly wealthy with a bank more valuable than Wells Fargo, it’s your memory bank.

Cindy G. Foust is a wife, mom, author and blogger. You can find her blog at the alphabetmom.com for weekly columns about home life, parenting, small business stories and insight with a smidgen of literacy. Give her a like or follow on Facebook and Instagram.