Life
The Grampa Diaries
BY DAVID E BURKE
‘You’re retired now, you can put your feet up.’ They said. ‘Look at all the freedom and spare time you’ve got.’ They said. But, of course, they were wrong. It’s like they say about income. ‘The more pay you have, the more your outgoings will expand to soak it up’. It’s the same with your time. The more time you have when you retire simply gets taken up with more household chores, more shopping, more DIY and more grand-parenting. And the more grandchildren you have, the more time you need anyway.
As every busy Mum with little ones will confirm, Grandparents are a godsend. Although they do often tend to play good cop to your bad cop, never tell your children off when they are naughty, give them sweets before their meals and generally undo your hard won discipline. They laugh at such antics as pouring squash over the stereo, fighting over the remote, or trying to dress the cat - when they should be sent to the naughty step to think about what they have done (The grandchildren I mean, not the the grandparents! Oh ...I don’t know actually!!)
But the upside is that Grandparents come into their own for helping out with everything from kids parties to school runs, walks to the park, baby sitting when you just need a date night out, and a thousand other sanity saving services. And it’s a service us Grandparents are happy to provide. It’s just that we need to pace ourselves. We don’t always have the energy to keep up with your little ones the way we used to when you were ours. We tire a lot easier these days. Poor oldwrinkly things!
But it is so very rewarding. They are always so excited and pleased to see us, and the things they say and do are just priceless. I.e. Grand-daughter ‘Grampa, why is your face all creased?’ The wonderful thing about children is that they don’t judge or discriminate and they truly believe that anything is possible. Mind you, that can prove to be problematic at times...For example, every Halloween my Wife and I are required to arrive attired in fancy dress for our grandchildren’s ‘Halloween Party’. I enquired of our 4 year old granddaughter a few days before as to what we should come as, only to be informed, quite decidedly, I should come as ‘A Princess’ and my wife a Cat or a Good Witch. Cue the frock, lipstick, wand and tiara! Thank goodness it was dark on the drive over… And although some days we feel more like lying-in than helping out, we don’t really mind. We know this time in our lives is special and will be over in the wink of an eye. They will grow up and we will grow older. But we will always have the memories of the times we shared together. In the end what better time can you spend?