Grandparents and Grandchildren, Essay Example

Among other interests, I am also a student of history. When I look at all the amazing things around us which were not even imaginable just a century ago, I feel a sense of gratitude to the previous generations whose hard work and contributions laid the foundation for the world we live in. This may be why I believe each generation is not only responsible for itself but also for the future generations. While not everyone may be Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, everyone still has an obligation to do something for the future generations even if it means positively influencing a single person.

If one could live forever, he would have the luxury to make mistakes and learn from them without losing much but life is quite short. Thus, one of the major obligations of grandparents is to transmit their experience to their grandchildren so that grandchildren can live more productive lives. But each generation also has its biases and grandparents should be careful not to let those biases affect the education of grandchildren. The society progresses when each generation acknowledges the mistakes it made and take measures to ensure that their negative values do not get passed down to the next generations. This is especially true for grandparents in multicultural and immigrant families. Instead of holding onto ethnocentric beliefs and ideas, grandparents should acknowledge the changing realities of the world and adapt to them instead of trying to preserve their old values.

One often feels protective about loved ones and grandparents are not any different when it comes to their grandchildren. But love doesn’t always have to be gentle and instead of trying to protect their grandchildren from the harsh realities of the world, grandparents should allow their grandchildren to experience life. Most grandparents are not around their grandchildren their whole lives, thus, it is their job to help grandchildren understand the ways of the world if it means making them go through difficult experiences.

It is easy to fall into the usual trap their wisdom comes with age. Grandparents may have seen more of the world than their grandchildren but the true wisdom is knowing that times change and sometimes old rules do not apply to the modern world. Grandparents may actually have more influence over their grandchildren if they learn to listen to the younger generations and show confidence in them. Grandparents should acknowledge the fact that how the grandchildren may turn out to be also depends upon their personal characteristics, thus, grandparents should accept their limitations. More often than not, being realistic is a better strategy than being an idealistic.

Multicultural and immigrant families sometimes have stronger sense of cultural identity and as a result they may isolate themselves from other racial and ethnic groups. But such an approach does more harm than good. Grandparents have lived long enough lives and most of them should have the wisdom to realize that cultural isolation carries huge social and economic costs. Thus, they should not only allow but actually encourage their grandchildren to embrace cultural diversity in the society.

My beliefs as to how grandparents should raise their grandchildren have been influenced by both personal experiences as well as observations. I am often surprised that many grandparents usually make the same mistake and remain clueless as to why their relationship with their grandchildren is difficult. I believe the key to good relationship between different generations is an open mind and the willingness to learn because education takes place our entire lives.