Remembering Blessed Mother Teresa
September 5, 2008Lorraine Hartsook: An Extraordinary Mom
September 7, 2008
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the first Sunday after Labor Day National Grandparents Day. Have you hugged a grandparent today?
The September 2008 issue of Metro Parent has an article about how the role of grandparents has changed in contemporary society. According to AARP:
* 1 in 12 children lives in a home headed by a grandparent,
* In Michigan, 5.5% of children live with a grandparent-caregiver,
* 73% of custodial grandparents are under the age of 60,
* 33% live in a home without the grandchild(ren)’s parent, and
* 14% live in poverty.
- Of the 70,044 grandparents who are raising their grandchildren …
55% are white
36% are African American
4% are Hispanic/Latino
1% are Asian
Of course, all grandparents — no matter how much time you spend with your grandchildren — play a vital role in the lives of their children’s children. Their experience, patience … and humor adds perspective and balance to our own parenting efforts.
It wasn’t until I became a parent myself that I fully began to appreciate my own mother who, as my father often says, was “Born to be a grandmother.” When Craig and I decided to foster-adopt Christopher and Sarah, my parents (who already had seven grandchildren) told us, “You bring ’em to us, we’ll love ’em.”
And they have. Happy Grandparents’ Day, Mom and Dad!
0 Comments
“you bring em to us, we’ll love em”
ain’t that just the way grandparents are?
funny thing I’ve discovered about grandparents. no blood needed.
my stepmother has no blood ties to my children, but no one outside the family would ever be able to guess that. we also have adopted grandparents who love and cry and pray over our kids as any other grandparent.
God Bless them all.