THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GRANDPARENTS AND GRANDCHILDREN

Dear friends, 

I am now back to start Topic 6 'Relationship with Grandparents' of the weekly short 'Chemical Bonding' series after a short break. The loving relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is beyond words could ever describe because of the privileged position grandchildren have with them.  

Grandparents are the pillar of the family that convey emotional security to grandchildren giving them protection as if they are a wall they can lean on. Although in some relationships there can be misunderstandings between the grandfather and their grandchildren like any human relationship. This is known as generational conflicts, where they differ in ideas and temperaments.

The importance of the relationship between grandfather and grandchildren stems for the following several reasons:

A) Most grandchildren find a warm embrace in their grandparents. A range of feelings and emotions also arises such as trust, love, security, affection, acceptance and understanding. They also have less power; however, some grandchildren play an active role in the life of their grandchildren.

B) Grandparents help their grandchildren to understand others, get to know them and trust them. It is also possible to understand the behaviour of some family members towards them, as grandchildren can learn that other members of the family can be comfortable just as their parents are. Therefore, the child or children discover that the grandfather's house is safe and happy where they learn how to adapt and respect rules other than those considered important by their parents. This experience helps the grandchildren to be flexible and adaptive to the behaviour of others.

From this, we conclude, my dear friends, grandparents have a great and effective role in the social life of the family because they are the basis or foundation of building social and family ties. They are a symbolic model of history, traditions and values, and with them the cohesion of social identity that cannot be dispensed with. Moreover, grandparents represent the role of educators, guides, advisors, and the main reference for family stability for grandchildren to adapt to cultural characteristics and the environment in which they live. Grandparents are parental images who complete the image of the father and mother, correct it of any defects and spring love between the family. 

Next week inshaAllah, I will further look into the importance of the grandparents.