Why Should I Get to Know My Grandparents?-A Special Bond of Love

Your relationship with your grandparents may also be free of some of the tensions that youths sometimes experience with their parents.  Why might this be so?  For one thing, grandparents often enjoy a special bond with their grandchildren. The Bible says:  "Old men are proud of their grandchildren." -Proverbs 17:6, Today's English Version.

Remember, too,t hat it is your parents-not your grandparents-who must bear the heavy responsibility of raising you "in the discipline and mental regulating of Jehovah."  (Ephesians 6:4) Because their role is less demanding, your grandparents  may be less prone than your parents  to be critical of you.  Also, one's grandparents  are usually not encumbered  by the responsibilities and pressures of the daily care of a family. Because they may be relatively free of such stresses, it may be easier for them to respond to your needs or to pay attention to you. Seventeen year-old Tom recalls the attention he got from his grandparents. They would send him "little gifts for getting good report cards":  they even paid for his piano lessons. 

Of course, not all grandparents are able to provide such gifts, but they may still demonstrate their interest in you, perhaps by offering you praise and encouragement or by giving you a hearing ear from time to time.  This can forge deep bonds of friendship between you.  Damaris says regarding her grandmother:  "She makes me feel at ease, and I can go to her and talk  to her any time because she is always willing to listen-even if I am not making sense at the time." A youth named Jonatas similarly enjoys freeness of speech and the opportunity to talk about serious subjects with his grandparents. 

Next time: Why Should I Get to Know My Grandparents? -An Interchange

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