Generational Ponderings

The last morning of Grandparent Camp I woke up early and had a few minutes of quiet before the day began.  In the morning silence I wrote several pages in my journal with the intention of turning them into a blog.  Later that same day, after the grandchildren were in bed for the night, I actually wrote the blog... had second thoughts... and deleted it before I posted it.  ...too personal, I thought.  A few days later, listening to an interview of a chef on public radio, I was surprised to hear him address the same topic of the blog I had deleted!  He spoke of his mother's cooking... watching her do with what she had, cooking from scratch... and as an adult, cooking for himself, he adapted, rejected, or embraced her methods of cooking.  His comments made me seriously reconsider posting my thoughts. Then, today, a couple of comments on facebook nudged my thoughts in the same direction...  So here I am again, creating a blog... pondering the dynamics of the generations.

FROM MY JOURNAL, dated June 5, 2013
When we raise our children we create a worldview for them--a way of looking at the world, believing, valuing, ordering their lives within that world, equipping them for life in the larger society.  As they leave home and make their way outside our influence, our maturing offspring evaluate the world in which they grew up, reject some parts of it outright, modify other aspects of the values gained in the parental home, and in a few, perhaps unconscious ways, embrace or at least continue to live within the values of their family of origin.  I know this from personal experience--I did it. ...and now we see our son, daughters and their spouses doing it.

These thoughts come to mind as Thomas and I wind down our Grandparent Camp 2013.  Conversations with our grandchildren make us realize how much our offspring have embraced, modified, or rejected the values we attempted to impart in our parenting.  We also 'know' that in all likelihood our progeny and their spouses will share the experience we are having--observing as their values are rejected, modified, or embraced.

All three families that our grandchildren represent demonstrate my introductory statement!  Our eight grandchildren are being reared within the value system that their parents have created for them.  Each is similar to the one we provided their parents, but each family unit is also distinctly different.  On reflection I also realize the 'empty nest' is much different from the home we made for our three children 40+ years ago.  Not only have our offspring redefined their worldview and set of values, so have we!  In all likelihood they wouldn't recognize 'home' if they really took time to 'pick our brain' and ask what we really thought.  But all that is neither here nor there.

Life is a process of rejecting, modifying, and embracing as we move through this world.  Sometimes the process across the generations is exhilarating, disappointing, happy, sad, humorous, ironic, challenging, eye-opening, depressing... in other words, life is an on-going roller coaster! 

However, as parents we do the best we can with what we have and hope we've instilled in our children a modicum of respect for their elders... whether they embrace our values or not. Also I hope for them grace as their children mature and begin the process of rejection, modification and embrace.

Grandparent Camp 2012

Grandparent Camp 2013