“The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy.”
~ Sam Levenson, humorist~
They look like people, but they’re taller and louder and they seem to take up an entire room. Like an illustrator who draws and erases his characters, as children we believe because our parents made us they have the power to erase us.
We reach forty years old and swear we’ve outgrown this fear, but the crazy truth is, late at night, we see them by the harsh light of the refrigerator, their disapproving eyes challenging us to prove we no longer need their approval. Rather than dig any deeper into our souls, we turn away and funnel further into that half gallon container of Vanilla Fudge Ice-cream.
Just as our parents have this hold on us, we have this hold on our kids. To them, we are and will always be the big guys with the eraser in our back pocket.
Understanding this will maximize our role of Grandma Boomer. We control a subtle shift in power between our kids and our grandkids because we know our kids buttons. We are their buttons. And, happily for our grandkids, we’re on their side.
45 Responses