Grandparents are People Too

By Edgardo Hernandez, Jr.
Blog Content Contributor

Time is something that encompasses our lives. As it passes by, many of us are either preoccupied with school or work to even enjoy ourselves. This has become a normal way of life for our generation, although, we have all adjusted to allow it to be a comfortable lifestyle. The downside, though, is whatever time left available to us is used to either go out or relax. Sadly, this makes it difficult to keep in contact with others and leaves us to only focus on a select few.

Some choices of whom to keep in contact with are a bit obvious and can include: Mom, Dad, Brother or Sister, Tío(Uncle) o Tía(Aunt), Girlfriend or Boyfriend and a few friends.

This may seem straightforward, though is there anyone important missing from this list? It’s not your parents and it’s not your siblings. How about a couple that live behind the scenes and wish the absolute best for you in whatever it is you seek to achieve? This couple could also be known as your grandparents.

As we focus on our day-to-day lives, it can happen that some people get left behind. This is not done intentionally, though that doesn’t stop our grandparents from wishing they could hear from us from time to time.

For the most part, many grandparents are retired or on the verge of retirement. This leaves their days open for just about anything. With no job and no one calling to talk with them, what do they do with all that time? If they’re lucky, they have smaller grandkids to look after or a electronic device to keep them busy.

Let’s think back to how our parents would force the phone on us so we can talk to our grandparents? To us, it was the worst since we had no idea what to talk to them about. School? Friends? Even with no exact topic being discussed, to our grandparents, just hearing from us for what was only 2-3 minutes, could make the rest of the week worthwhile.

Hopefully now that some time has passed, talking to our grandparents can become less forced and the discussion could just flow. This can be as easy as asking them questions like “what have they been up to? What they think about the world today compared to when they were our age? How they have been feeling lately?” Better yet, instead of asking questions, let your grandparents know about what you have been up to, how school or work is going or whether it has been challenging or not.

Remember, there are plenty of people that wish they could see their grandparents one last time. So, on behalf of them and yourself, take this time to sit down and talk with your grandparents; they will appreciate this more than you could imagine.

Featured image by Belia Hernandez.