6 Cycles of Family Grand parenting Joy and Responsibility

6 Cycles of Family

Grand parenting Joy and Responsibility

Yes, Grand parenting is a great joy but it comes with responsibility

The wise grandparent realizes as the child grows up and

their world gets bigger grand parenting has competition.

I was talking to a wise, proud grandmother.

She has two grandsons under 8 years of age.

She knows they will grow up and relating to

grandma in the future will not be the same.

At a young age she dates her grandsons on

their birthday and has made them promise

they will keep that date every birthday.

Sandy every school year takes each grandchild to school twice,

once in the beginning of the school year and once towards the end.  

On the way, they have breakfast at their favorite

restaurant and one on one time with Nana.

When you come to the Family Cycle of being a grandparent,

 you have reached a very special point in your life.

Those formative years are priceless.

The influence you have as a grandparent

is beyond comprehension.

The feeling you get from hearing

Grandma or Grandpa, Nana or Papa

or the hug that comes at you at

100 miles an hour is incredible.

The wise grandparent realizes as the child grows up

and their world gets bigger grand parenting has competition.

Our grandchildren need to know we are more

than a place to come for money or candy.

In many cultures and in the Bible we see the term elders.

Elders are more than the older ones.

They are the ones who have learned through

experiences of life and have become wise.

Being a wise elder (grandparent) will take

building strong bonds in the formative years.

After my grandparents went on to be with the Lord,

I still wanted to live a life that they would be proud of.

Being a wise elder is not being a classroom teacher.

Grandparents identify with the path of their grandchildren,

 the emotions, and thoughts; they understand the

environment around that special time in the grandchild’s life.

The wise grandparent does not teach from a text

book but from the experiences of their life.

It does not matter whether the grandparent’s

experience was a success or failure.

 What matters is what God had revealed to them.

Don’t take grand parenting for granted.

  

Spend time meditating, with

prayer, on each grandchild often.

Pay attention to the things taking place

in their lives (read their Facebook).

Set aside special times with them.

 Times you let them know you deeply love them.

Beware of how fast a year goes by,

set dates on your calendar if you have to.

Yes, Grand parenting is a great joy

but it comes with responsibility.

  

There are 6 cycles for a family to navigate 

“Cycles of family life”

The marriage

Bearing children

Raising children

The empty nest / launching new family

The declining years

Death in the marriage

Family cycles should be a great experience for the whole family

Scripture Reading

Titus 2:1-5 NIV

 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.