National Grandparents Day will be celebrated on this coming Sunday, September 7 - the first Sunday after Labor Day. This annual observance is the accomplishment of Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, a West Virginia housewife, mother of 15 children and grandmother of 43.  A life-long supporter of senior issues, she was determined to create a public focus on the contributions that grandparents make to family values. 

In 1970 Mrs. McQuade launched a campaign to appoint a special day each year to honor grandparents and the unique role they play in the lives of their loved ones and their communities. Her state-wide effort succeeded in 1973, and six years later in 1979 President Jimmy Carter signed a proclamation making National Grandparents Day an annual observance throughout the United States.  

The role of grandparents 

One of the great joys in life is the gradual understanding of what it means to be a grandparent. Grand-parenting is a very different kind of relationship than fathering or mothering and mutually enriching in its own distinctive ways. While parents are immersed in a world of non-stop responsibilities including 24 hour care, career management, bill paying and seemingly endless challenges to their talents and endurance, grandparents are in a different place and have different gifts to offer.  

Grandparents have already experienced all the challenges of family life. They have survived through equal parts of courage, persistence and luck, and they know that life is a large and long process best approached as a marathon rather than a sprint. In short, they have developed perspective – or what many call wisdom.  As President Carter described in his 1979 proclamation,  

“We all know grandparents whose values transcend passing fads and pressures, and who possess the wisdom of distilled pain and joy. Because they are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations.” 

Perhaps the best way of “closing the space between generations” and the greatest gift that grandparents can offer their grandchildren (and their adult children) is what I like to call “creating a legacy”. By this I don’t mean passing on empire or worldly wealth but profound understanding of the traditions and history of a family. Sharing treasured memories, family stories, and deeply held values creates family identity and promotes a sense of assurance and purpose in life. Nothing is of greater use in building the future than a deeply owned sense of personal history, common experiences and shared values. And no one is better equipped to understand and impart this sense of history than the grandparents among us.  

Pray for the wishes of Grandparents 

As we approach National Grandparents Day, I recommend we ponder a simple question: What do all Grandparents wish for their children and for their grandchildren? No matter what language they speak, what continent they live on or what traditions form their national culture, I have to believe the answer is always the same: security, health, happiness and a family life to sustain them and their future generations.