The relationship between the grandparents and grandchildren has nurtured over the years as the feeling of love, hope, responsibility and a sense of care is shared between the two. This unique and precious bond exist between every functional family and is surpassed down to the generations. Beside the emotions shared, the significant roles of the grandparents in fostering resilience in the grandchildren in the challenging world today has been the guiding light for the children as they embark into the world of challenges. And the responsibility of fostering has been chute the chute for the grandparents.
The knowledge of the grandparents are the living libraries today for the grand children as they share the life experiences with the children. The children learn to cater the world problems from a growing age as the experiences serve as a valuable source of wisdom. Seemingly, an inspirational book “Gunka and me” written by Tosha, also explains beautifully how the grandma of Mason goes beyond the rage to help her grandchild face the challenges of the world and fight his ADHD to be able to live normally as other kids in the school. Tosha has also enlightened us with the fact that Mason despite being 7 ½ year old is aware about the sacrifices his Gunka has made for him to be able to fight his mental health issues, feeding him on time and making sure that he knows that his parents loved him beyond words until they got sick.
Gunka has also protected mason emotionally by always being there for him when he felt that why his parents are not there to take care of him. This emotional support by the grandparents is priceless as they create a feeling of safe heaven for the grand children which helps them feel understood without any judgement. Moreover, this feeling of having an emphatic figure to turn to during hard times helps built a sturdy foundation upon which resilience is built. This shows that the grandparents despite the generational gap still over comes the fear of their kids separational anxiety and other health problems by always being their cheerleader.
Over the years, the coping strategies by the grandparents and their traditional aspects to certain personas has also empowered grandchildren to handle life’s challenges with grace. Whether, it’s dealing with loss of a loved one, managing stress or anxiety the composure is fostered into the kids over the time to be able to pass the storms.
Tosha has also highlighted the complexity that the grand parents face when adopting the legal custody of the grandchildren. The fact that they are ready to foster care them, bear their financial strains and play multiple roles in building their identity is still not enough for some state holders in the western world. As the laws to take the legal custody of a grand children exist as a hard law. In addition, the grand parents have to go through the legal process of adoption and pay a certain amount in order to get the custody of their own blood. This harsh reality actually makes the grandparents suffer from an emotional breakdown.
Patience is a “virtue” fits really well in regards to the fostering of grandchildren by their grandparents. The enthusiasm to embrace life and build in resilience in their kids shows how with patience one can achieve generational bonds and win at life. The struggles, sacrifices and emotional availability by the grandparents plays a huge role in the framing a perspective of life of a grandchild. Thus as they say, to break the back of the beast all you need is to cradle of wisdom.
