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Welcome to familywisdom.com, a website dedicated to informing and inspiring couples and families. Each week you will find a new article, story or essay about parenting, marriage or life. Suggestions for articles and questions to Ellen Terich are welcome. You can contact her at e.terich1@verizon.net |
HEAF BOATS AND HEMONADE 2004-06-27 Sean and his grampy have always had a special relationship. From the time Sean was a few months old, grampy would take him for walks and every walk became a lesson about the world, both the natural world and the man-made one. Grampy never pushed Sean in a stroller; he always carried him so that he could talk to his tiny grandson long before Sean could even understand the words. He would point out trees and birds, cars and flowers. Sometimes he'd pick a flower and hold it up close for Sean to see, sometimes he'd walk up to a tree and let Sean touch the bark. When Sean got a little older and began to notice pinwheels and other moving decorations in people's front yards, grampy would take Sean up the front walks of homes to give him a closer look. He would tell Sean the names of trees, squat down to point out all the bugs living in the soil, and encourage Sean to look up at the wonders of the sky: birds, airplanes, helicopters and clouds. Sean never turns down an opportunity to walk with grampy. It's one of his favorite things to do. Once, when his daddy asked if he could go along on the walk, Sean said "no." These walks are such a special time for Sean that he doesn't want anyone else but grampy there with him. It's not only his opportunity to learn about new things, it's also his chance to have grampy's complete and undivided attention and to bask in the unconditional love of an adoring grandfather. It's his time to feel special and important, and to store precious memories of an innocent, carefree time. Sean is three and a half now and grampy doesn't carry him anymore. He misses no opportunity to remind everyone that he's a big boy and he insists on walking, even when the walk lasts over an hour. He dutifully holds grampy's hand and off they go, the tiny brown haired child and the tall gray haired man, on an adventure to discover new worlds. On a recent walk, grampy decided to teach Sean something he knows very well. Because grampy is a civil engineer, he pointed out the gutters carrying water to the catch basins on the street. Then he gathered some leaves, called them boats, and showed Sean how to float them down the gutter into the catch basin. Sean didn't want to stop their game, but it was soon time to come home and grampy convinced Sean that it would be fun to tell mommy, daddy and grammy all about it. Sean, who cannot pronounce the letter "L" yet, and substitutes it with the "H" sound, came back home and very excitedly told his mother, his father and me that he and grampy floated "heaf boats" into the catch basin. The other day Sean and his mommy went for a walk and Sean proudly showed his mommy several catch basins. Even though Sean's grampy is her father, Sean's mother didn't know what a catch basin was. That's probably because when she was a little girl, her daddy didn't have the time to take her on the kind of walks he takes with her son. That's often the way it is with parents. There is so much to do to support the family, get all the work done, supervise homework, referee sibling fights, teach manners and morals, and complete all those other parental duties, that there isn't time to stop and smell the roses, or teach your children about catch basins. It's so wonderful to be a grandparent and to have the time to enjoy your grandchildren. It's like a second chance to do all those things you wanted to do with your children but never did. Grampy may be the one who gets to take long walks with Sean and help him float "heaf boats," but grammy gets to play with Sean in his backyard, sing silly songs, make up stories, and afterwards sit down with him and enjoy a cold glass of "hemonade." |