Not even our grandparents resemble the grandparents of our children, it is not a complaint, it is a reality. The grandparents of now are not like those of before, they are better.
Our parents have become active grandparents in general and also actively participate in the care of grandchildren, perhaps sometimes more than they expected.
In many cases they have been forced to act as fathers, mothers, educators, nurses and especially child caregivers, their own grandchildren. The figure of grandparents has changed a lot in recent decades and today is a perfect day to claim it. His figure and importance in our lives because thanking him just one day, only today, would be too selfish of us.
Nowadays, More than 18% of the Spanish population has already turned 65 and the National Statistics Institute (INE) foresees that in 2061 there will be more than 16 million people over 65 in Spain.
This past year we have broken the sad record of having had more deaths than births in our country, which shows that the age of the Spanish population is progressively higher.
Grandparents Day in the world
Since 1998 in Spain the NGO Messengers of Peace celebrates July 26, Grandfather's Day matching this celebration with the one promoted by the UN as the international day for the elderly.
It is not a common date worldwide, does not match the same day in all countries but nevertheless there is a "grandparents day" in almost all of them. After all, the figure of grandfather and grandmother is vitally important that crosses borders.
In Poland, Grandmother's Day is January 21 and the next day, Grandfather's Day is commemorated. In the United Kingdom, Grandparents Day is the first Sunday of October and in Colombia the fourth Sunday of August. In other Latin American countries, as in Spain, July 26 was chosen because of its relationship with the Catholic liturgy.
In the United States it is the "National Grandparents Day" and is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. Its origin is not very clear, some speak of New York, others of West Virginia. What both versions agree is that a date was sought to thank the grandparents for their work and their determination.
Essential grandparents
Many of them have worked since childhood. Many of them have been the first women who joined the labor market at the time. The vast majority of grandparents and grandmothers have become essential for their children when it comes to organizing family life, grandchildren's schedules, school pickups, extracurriculars, definitive conciliation.
We need them but We talk little about what they may need from others. We don't have time to go see them, to spend some time together, to know what they think and what they feel and on many occasions, they feel very alone.
However, few relationships are as "equal" as the one generated by a grandfather with his grandson and few moments the grandson will remember as an adult, as those who spent with their grandparents, enjoying with them and them, with that complicity that can only Develop together
In fact we know that those children who grow up near their grandparents, who have more frequent contact with them, are happier than those who do not have that luck. As we also know that under normal conditions, the activity of taking care of your grandchildren for a few hours is very positive to prevent the cognitive deterioration of the adult, of the grandfather.
We are getting to know cases in which different institutions seriously consider the interaction between the elderly and children, in which grandmothers and grandparents become a proactive part of society but are still exceptions.
It is clear that grandparents want to be more than caregivers of their grandchildren, have free time, enjoy leisure, culture, life that now gives them an opportunity that for too many years had perhaps denied them.
Happy grandparents' day to all, those who are and those who have them! Enjoy it a lot together!
Photos | iStockphoto On Babies and more | The precious moment in which a 92-year-old woman meets her great-granddaughter for only 2 days | Grandparents, how was everything when you were children? 15 things your grandchildren won't understand
In Magnet | The story of the grandfather who decided to transform the backyard into his own Disneyland
