'Grand' Parents & Children

Wednesday, February 17, 2010


Yesterday I received a call from my Mother asking me if she could send Gujias and Gajar Halwa for us with my Mother-in-law. My In-laws and Parents live in the same city, Meerut, U.P. My Mother-in-law is coming to be with us on the occasion of our first Holi in our new house in Pune. We came to live here in July last year, and have ever since tried and succeeded in having some or the other family members with us on the occasion of major Hindu festivals. We had the family of my husband’s elder brother with us to celebrate the victory of Good over evil on Dussera; both my Parents came to brighten the lights of happiness and wisdom on Diwali; my younger sister and her husband came to celebrate the New Year; and now, we’ve succeeded in having my Mother-in-law and my husband’s cousin with us to bring colors of joy and fun on Holi.


I have observed that both my kids benefit the most when our relatives and friends come to our house. Their benefits range from tangible ones like expensive dresses, story-books, toys and sweets to intangible ones like an enriched environment of affection and attention, break from the monotony of school-home-school cycle, relief from their Mother’s continuous interference in their lives, opportunity to visit new places with their guests, and most importantly, new people to escort them to their school bus-stop.


Kids born and brought up in nuclear families mostly miss out on their Grand-parents’ care and love. The connection between the two generations is of paramount importance. The Grand-parents rejoice in identifying the continuity of their values and traditions in their grandchildren’s lives, and almost effortlessly, succeed in inculcating in them many desirable qualities. The grandchildren, on the other hand, find the company of their relaxed and easy Grandparents acting as a balm on their minds tortured constantly by the worries of academics, parental expectations, and onslaught of a maddening pace of the world that they live in.