KINCARE SUPPORT

INFLUENCE OF A GRANDPARENT by Gail Mitchell Gallagher

Published in the October 2020 issue of the Senior Times magazine.

Click HERE to read INFLUENCE OF A GRANDPARENT in Senior Times.

What is the mysterious connection between grandparent and grandchild? What causes the unconditional love that is apparent in almost every grandparent-grandchild relationship? How are values passed on from generation to generation? How do you measure that kind of generational influence?

The grandparent-grandchild relationship can last for decades. This can allow for great times of bonding and produce deep emotional ties for both. As grandparents tie the past to the present, and as family history is lovingly shared and passed down, it establishes deep sentimental roots for the grandchild and fulfills great purpose in the heart of the grandparent.

We can never underestimate the influence of a grandparent on the life of a grandchild, nor can we ignore the effect that a grandchild has on the heart of a grandparent. We know that there is a bond between the two that no one can understand, much less explain. It is a magical bond connecting two hearts forever.

According to Arthur Kornhaber and K.L. Woodward in The Vital Connection, “An infant who is seen and held by its grandparents imprints itself like a brand on the hearts and minds of those grandparents no less indelibly than on its parents. Such moments are not only precious, their emotional impact ‘fixes’ them in the mind as lasting memories.”

But I believe that we can go farther. I believe our influence as grandparents can follow for many generations.

One day a woman was visiting her grandmother, who asked her to go to the closet and bring out a package. As her grandmother carefully unwrapped the worn package, the woman’s heart raced within her. She knew by the tattered cover that it must be the daily journal of her great-grandfather her grandmother had referred to many times. She placed the journal in her granddaughter’s hands and smiled.

For several days, the woman gently fingered through the old journal absorbing and delighting in the words of her great-grandfather. By the time she had

reached the last page she had grown to love and respect a man she had never met, a man she had never seen or had never held her in his arms. The daily activities he had shared about his life on the farm with his family, serving them, as well as his friends and community, touched her heart. Reading his words had shown her the heart of this man. It had shown her that he was a man of God who deeply loved his family and his community. That special mysterious bond had developed as she had read his very own words. Although they had never met face to face, they had met heart to heart. Thus, the influence of a great-grandparent decades later.