This is a comment by bobbt on the post “Grandfatherhood: A Baggage-Free Relationship“.
bobbt said:
I used to think that there was no “payoff” for being a good parent (or at least trying to, as parenthood is really all about the effort). Then 2 of my grown children gave me grandchildren. The best way I find to describe it is all the joy of being a parent, multiplied, with minimal responsibilities. I remember coaching my kids sports teams years ago and seeing how the grandparents in the crowd ‘got into it’ even more than the parents! Now, being a grandparent, I understand!
One thing I did notice as my kids were growing up, your children somewhat feed off your relationship with your parents. My wife had a strained relationship with her father and you could see how it affected the relationship my kids had with their maternal grandfather. They still loved him, but it was somewhat muted compared to the other 3 grandparents.
—
Like this Comment of the Day? Here are more.
Want to nominate a comment of the day? Email the comment and the post it was on to [email protected].
–
Photo credit: Flickr / surlygirl
If only you could skip the middle stage of having kids and go straight to having grandkids….
Yeah, those ‘teen’ years can be quite challenging, but I’ve found that if you lay a good ‘foundation’ previous to that, it all seems to work out in the end (hopefully).