My Father ~ Max M. Michelson
This past February marked 40 years since my father passed away. At the time of his death, he was a grandfather of six. I wish he knew that all these years later, his grandchildren (2 of whom are grandparents, themselves) would hold vivid and treasured memories of him close to their hearts. Through his words and actions, he set a standard that they’ve tried to emulate in key areas of their lives. Probably that was his hope; he made all the small moments with each of them count.
Grandchildren watch and learn. How you spend your time reflects to them what you value the most. When you give your grandchildren your uninterrupted time to read aloud, to help them choose books or to discuss what you’ve read, the message they hear is clear: I value you; I value our relationship; I value reading.
Grandfathers are not making their presence felt in the blogging world that I can tell. Where is The Papa Brotherhood or Grandpa’s Briefs? Certainly, many grandfathers love to tell stories and read to their precious grandchildren. What they might not like to do is document it—to write about it and take photographs. Does this matter? Well, one of the benefits of writing a blog (or a journal) is that you are preserving your thoughts for your grandchildren.
I’ve come across a lovely way for a grandfather (or father) to sit down, collect his thoughts and express himself to his grandchild on the topic of literacy and learning. The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy is sponsoring a letter-writing contest for fathers and grandfathers. You are invited to write from the heart, the head or the funny bone. Even if yours is not one of the winning entries, you can’t lose. The deadline is May 30. Good Luck!
Great post and I agree that Grandfathers do need to blog more. It is time consuming but it is so much fun to go back and read posts from a few years ago and if it is fun now just imagine in 10 years. I’m trying to encourage my husband to guest post for me so that there isn’t such a huge time commitment. He did it once! He’ll do it again!
We are all HUGE readers around here. Our granddaughter’s favorite place to go is the used book store. Not only do we read to her but I love that her Dad has read to her every night for almost 9 years. All these books and all this reading is a huge part of why she continues to be such a good student. I like your blog! Great message!
Thanks for visiting and your words of support, Grandma Kc. I agree that your posts and pictures will become even more precious as time goes by and trigger many memories for you and your family. I also think that having your husband do occasional guest posts is a great way to ease him into participating in the blog; actually, other grandma bloggers should try that, as well (though my husband isn’t quite there, yet). By the way, your granddaughter is adorable!
Our grandson is now 7 and has been reading for two years. Speaking to this fact, my husband recently suggested that our grandson should read one of his bedtime stories to him. “Oh, no. That’s what Grandpas are for,” our grandson quickly replied. He still gets 3 bedtime stories a night, and he gets to decide which ones Grandma reads and which ones Grandpa reads.
Carol, I appreciate your following my blog—btw, yours looks quite interesting. Sounds as if your grandson is clever, loves books and his grandparents! Being involved in his life in that way benefits the whole family!