Words from a Reader

The “Writing Life Stories” e-mails I receive are such treasures. As soon as I see there is one in my inbox, I read it immediately. I look forward to them and never know how they will touch me. They can be interesting, informative, humorous, and/or touching.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Bringing up Grandchildren

In our country today, it seems more and more children and grandchildren are moving in with parents and grandparents. Sometimes for financial reasons and sometimes because of broken homes where no parent is available to care for the child.

Recently a 74 year old and his wife talked with me about the child they had taken into their home. She is 15 and she withdraws into her room and talks on her cellphone constantly. He worries that there is little interaction between them, but his wife says she tries to stay close to her grandchild and even goes into the girl's room when she doesn't feel welcome.



The teenager is on a precipice and could fall either way in her life. Both parents have made huge mistakes and cannot care for this child at this time. But these elderly grandparents should be free to enjoy the last years of their lives. They worked hard to provide for their children and are not physically able to handle a rebellious, angry teen. This teen says that her grandparents are the only stable thing in her life. How could they not take care of her? Sacrifices continue to be made by the elderly while so many younger parents take them for granted.



However, if we can save one child from turning to drugs or alcohol and help her/him develop into the person we see he can be, we persevere and make the sacrifices. Our generation was brought up that way.

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