ents share stories of their own childhoods
and the lessons they have learned, they pass
this unique wisdom to their grandchildren.
Their grandkids learn the value of maturity
and stability, which they will carry with
them into adulthood.
Sharing stories of the past also helps chil-
dren learn about their family history. When
children hear tales about relatives, special
events, and family traditions they under-
stand their place within the family. They
learn the importance of their heritage and
culture, which helps to shape a part of their
self-identity. Children come to see their
grandparents as the “glue” that holds their
family together and they develop a positive
image of aging.
Grandparents come with a variety of
personalities and grandparenting styles, all
of them valuable in their own way. Just look
at these local grandparents and their unique
bond with their grandchildren:
Teri Freedman • Gilroy
My husband, Rich Freedman, and I have
lived in Gilroy since 1979. We are pretty
typical Baby Boomer parents and grandpar-
ents, because ours is a “blended” family of
five children and ten grandchildren. Each
of us had a child when we married 39 years
ago, and we have three together. Similarly,
those five children have given us ten grand-
children aged five months to 17 years.
Biologically, four of our grandchildren
are “mine”; two grandchildren are “his”,
three are “ours,” and one is a gift from the
next generation›s blended family — but all
ten are ours.
Confusing? It doesn’t seem to bother
any of the children, because we are, quite
simply, their grandparents. There is no dif-
ferentiation, either from their perspective or
from ours. Because two live in Oregon, four
live in Pennsylvania, three now live in the
Fresno area, and one lives in Gilroy, the kids
have been known to “keep score” of time
and activities with us. If we visit one, the
rest expect equal attention. Some of them
squabble over who gets to sit in Papa’s chair,
and they have even posted signs on it. When
one preschooler got to travel to San Diego
with NeNe, an older child served notice that
she expected a trip, also. When we could,
we provided granny daycare for some of the
local ones for a couple of years. Grandparent
bliss is a lapful of babies after breakfast.
All of this is very different from Rich’s
and my experience as children, where each
of us lost some of our grandparents before
we were old enough to know or remember
them. The surviving grandparents were not
as active as we are. Our five kids were fortu-
nate to have complete “sets” of grandparents
(who took them on trips and made many
special memories), and we look forward to
a long time of enjoying our grandchildren,
too.
Sherry Hemingway • Morgan Hill
The “11-Year-Old Grandchild Trip” is a
tradition which we have so far accomplished
with seven of our nine