Rory FitzgeraldWhat is it about grandparents? Kids love them. Nobody else – apart from antique dealers – gives quite the same preference to age. Right from the baby stage, the bond between grandparents and grandchildren is plain for all to see.
A visitor to Earth from space could reasonably surmise that the older generation would be of the least interest to small children, as they cannot run, jump or dash about like lunatics, as children are wont to do. Yet, as a rule, children far prefer the oldies to young adults and those in their middle years. What do the oldies have that we don’t?
Of course, the kids love time with their grandparents: the bedtime stories, the little presents, the indulgent treats and the feeling of loving and being loved. Yet there seem to be deeper commonalties between these disparate generations lurking beneath.
Last week, my parents came over from Ireland to stay for a week. The excitement was building for about a fortnight beforehand for the kids, who were counting down the days. At last, I was informed at breakfast one morning that it was “no more sleeps until nana and granddad are coming!”
Sunshine
I duly met my parents from the ferry and drove them back to our house in the sunshine, with the roof down in our slightly old, but fun, convertible. For that is how we roll on the Isle of Wight. We were about to buy a sensible car, but found an open top for nearly the same price, and so bought that instead, figuring that life is short, and that we are living in the sunniest part of Britain, after all.
I made the mistake, however, of insuring my dad on it. This meant that I was reduced to taking my bike to work while he and my mother zoomed about the island with the roof down, enjoying themselves.
In many ways, this was quite like what the children do on their bikes and push-along cars. Perhaps the similarities between young and old are greater than it first seems.
Seeing my parents settle into enjoying their retirement, I began to think that in many ways this is a bit like how children live, at least in that they need no longer work to survive. There’s little rushing about from one thing to the next. It may be that this easier pace of life is something the young and old share, I thought one afternoon as I glanced up from my laptop, about to rush to a meeting, my head filled with half-remembered to-do lists. Out in the garden I saw my mother and the children sitting quietly, simply listening to the birdsong. Perhaps children and their grandparents are united in having less to do, and more time to simply be.
If the older generation has a wisdom that comes with experience, the younger generation has a wisdom that comes with innocence. Both older people and young children tend to be united in putting their families at the very centre of their lives. They are not distracted by their careers, or paying the mortgage, or rushing out the door to work. They have time to be with each other, and to know that it is in these little gangs we call families that the real magic happens.