The Grandmothers’ Dilemma

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with a group of grandmothers who, organized as the GaGa Sisterhood, meet to share their experiences and offer each other support and suggestions for the joys and challenges of grand parenting.

I talked about SPEED – what it is, how I came to recognize the fast pace of life as a cultural addiction, and the impact on children, both growing up and grown.  These women already “get it.” They quickly jumped in with stories of pain – their own children’s frantic lives and ruptured relationships with their spouses and partners, the frenzy of their grandchildren who cannot relax or engage in interactive play and conversations. These grandmothers also spoke about the “old-fashioned” norms – the value and necessity of human engagement, live interactions and verbal conversations — they still carry and are trying to instill and preserve for their families.

It was a gratifying validation for me of the importance of dialogue, a back and forth building and deepening of relationship, that we are losing with our rush to “connect” instantly and robotically through pushing buttons.

Thank you to the worried and inspiring grandmothers who are making such a positive impact with their grand children, one-child-at-a-time.