Living as we do in an apartment building which houses predominantly retired people – and because the smallish apartments are not conducive to families – one often hears references to grandchildren. The common remark is that the grandchildren are visiting, or the grandchildren are playing in a sports event or the grandchildren helped clarify a technology issue. Generally speaking the ages of the grandchildren vary from 1 month to 24 years, but mostly in the middle somewhere. And not surprisingly the residence of the grandchildren is commonly nearby – no doubt initially a reflection of the wish of the grandparent(s) to be close to his/her/their own child or children.

The importance of the ancestral relationship with grandchildren cannot be over estimated. There is an indisputable shift of meaning from parenting to grandparenting.  I know this for a fact because I witnessed it in operation between my parents and their grandchildren. Or – as I liked to quip – “There goes the inheritance!”

I suspect that in modern society – now not normally having the presence of a nanny – grandparents fill the void at least some of the time. It is however a privilege routinely cautioned by the observation that the grandparents are happy it is only for a limited schedule. Nonetheless the overt affection between grandparent and grandchild often exceeds that which prevails between parent and child. There are naturally one thousand reasons for this but I suspect the signal reason is that the grandchildren represent to the grandparents the lineal manifestation of themselves – as opposed to suffering the complication of what the parents foresee for the children. The one is cloaked in advantage and approbation; the other, in stricture and instruction.

I and my partner have overall been estranged from the immediacy of these evolutionary boundaries. It is an activity which we have largely witnessed from afar. And I confess with no immodesty that we have generally subscribed to the view that, “There are two ways to travel: First Class and with kids”. On occasion however we have succumbed to participate in a local baseball game. But our preference has been instead to welcome the children and their parents to the golf club to put on the nosebag. Obviously it is a much less participatory union but we haven’t any mistaken view about matching the unparalleled devotion or conviction of grandparents. We also attempt to modify the demanding generational association with grandchildren by adopting instead the realm of second cousins (youngsters who very often are in the latter years of high school or the early years of undergraduate study).

What remains incontrovertible is the attraction and beauty of youth. Seen from the vantage of an old fogey, the distinction of youth is impossible to ignore. One instantly lapses into the poetic persuasion when contemplating the magic of Nature at its initial stages. Even the humorous element is incontestable!  But I admit I haven’t the strength to compete with the dutiful obligation of a grandparent. Cavorting with these youngsters is a serious affair exacting untold foresight and forebearance.