There is a very popular meme on social media platforms that starts with the premise that Grandparents love their grandchildren much more than they ever loved their own kids. There are varying versions of this theme, many of them hysterically funny. There’s the scenes where grandparents arrive at the kid’s house and nearly run them over on their way inside to see the grandbaby. I get it. Then there’s the often heard complaint by adult children that their parents let the grandchildren get away with everything that would have brought down their fury back in the day. It’s all true.
But it’s not what you think. There’s much more to a grandparent’s love than meets the eye. I’m certain that I am not the first grandparent to stumble upon this idea, so bear with me.
We do not love our grandchildren more than we loved our own children. Nothing could be further from the truth. Its like this…
When we hold little Silas in our arms we experience all of the feels. There’s an almost indescribable love. There’s joy, wonder, amazement, pride and an inexhaustible gratitude. In other words, the exact same things we felt when we held Kaitlin and Patrick.
But when Kaitlin and Patrick came into this world there was much more in the mix. There was fear, inadequacy, anxiety about how in the world I was going to provide for them, protect them, care for them. Would I make bad decisions where their care was concerned? What if I didn’t have what it took to be a proper parent? What in the hell were we thinking…that we could care for a brand new life?
But when we hold Silas there’s none of that.
So what happens is we feel all the wonderful thrill of new life without any of the pressures and responsibilities. In other words God has given us the opportunity to remember what it was like to love our children. We get to love our children all over again through this beautiful little child.
It is the greatest gift we have ever received.
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