If Your Grandparents Make Sure To Do 11 Specific Things With You, They Love You From The Very Depths Of Their Soul
PeopleImages | ShutterstockGrandparents play a very important role in family dynamics, despite a general lack of research on their roles with adult children and grandkids. In fact, the main pillars of a healthy relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren revolve around a sense of closeness and support.
When grandparents have the opportunity to care for and teach their grandkids, there's more opportunity for growth and stability. So, when a grandparent does certain things for their grandchildren, it means they truly love them. After all, this relationship is a very special one.
Grandparents who do these things with you love you from the depths of their soul
1. They share stories and experiences
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Telling stories and passing down stories through generations is extremely important for creating a bond. It can also aid in recognizing and healing from generational traumas, as a study from Psychological Trauma explained.
Shared experience is how we connect with others in social interactions, but between grandparents and their grandkids, this storytelling holds a great deal of power. From teaching their grandchildren about overcoming their own struggles to sharing perspective on their childhoods, grandparents pass down skills and lessons that powerfully shape their grandkids' futures.
2. They offer advice without judgment
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While professor Dawn Clifford argues that unsolicited advice can sabotage healthy connections by dismissing people's concern, grandparents that offer advice when they're asked for it lead with guidance. They provide support without judgment, helping their grandchildren to overcome struggles or just sharing life wisdom.
The safe space of a loving family dynamic is made by interactions like these, ensuring that grandchildren always feel safe asking their grandparents for help and advice. When they're going through a difficult time and can't rely completely on their parents, they can turn to another trusted source for guidance.
3. They create joyful memories
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A study published in the Journal of Family Issues argues that having a good relationship with your grandparents can make a huge difference in how you feel later in life. It affects the way you create your own relationships and the way you develop a comfortable sense of self-esteem. While there are plenty of things that feed into the health of this relationship, quality time seems to be the most important.
Grandparents are much more concerned with making the most of their time spent with grandkids, rather than trying to see them all the time. The time spent together in a family relationship is much less important than what you're doing with that time. Quality time looks different for everyone, but making it a priority to create memories together is something a loving grandparent won't hesitate to do.
4. They offer to babysit
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By helping with babysitting and childcare, grandparents are being intuitive and thoughtful offering up their time. For the health of everyone involved and the family dynamic as a whole, it's important to have clear boundaries and constant communication, but this simple gesture means a lot.
Grandparents who take on a significant role in caring for their grandchildren are often burdened with socioeconomic disadvantages and added stress. So, it's not always beneficial for them to set their own needs aside. Still, it means they love their grandkids from the depths of their soul if they're avoiding important things just to see them.
5. They teach important life skills
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In addition to offering practical life advice and financial wisdom, an AARP study found that grandparents play an essential role in offering experiential and emotional guidance to both their grandkids and adult children. In multicultural families, grandparents who grew up in a much more traditional time have a lot of wisdom to impart on younger generations.
From navigating traditional professional environments to learning etiquette or manners, many grandparents can share wisdom from their own lived experiences that are thoughtfully intertwined into their grandchildren's current realities.
6. They're supportive, even through difficult times
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Grandparents can often be a pillar of support and unwavering reassurance for grandchildren with a tumultuous or stressful home life. The unconditional love and support they give create a safe space for them to recharge and relax.
This consistent reassurance and positive feedback doesn't just help to cultivate a healthy family dynamic, it also helps impressionable children and young adults to build self-esteem and self-worth that follows them into adulthood.
7. They prioritize family traditions
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Cherishing and prioritizing family traditions is something a truly loving grandparent will do for their grandkids. It creates security and stability that their grandkids can keep coming back to when they're feeling nostalgic or just miss their family.
They put so much time and love into family traditions because they know how bonding they can be. It allows them to connect with the people they love most, and by teaching their grandchildren these same traditions or practices, they're helping them connect easier on their own.
8. They avoid overstepping their adult children's parenting wishes
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Despite being a foundational part of many family structures, grandparents aren't entitled to anything when it comes to voicing opinions for their kids' parenting styles. If they're already proven to be untrustworthy or defiant, parents can set healthy boundaries to protect their kids and well-being.
But being respectful of these boundaries is something a loving, compassionate grandparent takes seriously. At the end of the day, they're willing to advocate for their own needs and desires, but never at the expense of a healthy relationship with their own kids or grandchildren.
9. They offer a listening ear
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People are more likely to engage in healthy active listening strategies when they care about the well-being of the person they're speaking to, so it's not surprising that offering a listening ear is what a great grandparent will do for their grandkids.
Feeling heard is important, so by listening without speaking or trying to solve their problems, grandparents boost self-confidence in their grandkids, all while also building a better, more fulfilling relationship. They appreciate deep and meaningful conversations where they can listen and provide advice when prompted.
10. They teach the importance of traditional hobbies and skills
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From sewing clothing to investing time in personal hobbies like keeping a diary, grandparents can impart a lot of beneficial knowledge on to their grandchildren. And all it takes is simply sharing the small parts of their daily lives with them.
Many of the traditional values grandparents uplift in their own lives don't necessarily align with younger generations. But there are many that are worth bringing back, helping young people to navigate the world from a broader, more versatile perspective.
11. They don't take things too personally
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By setting boundaries with their adult children and enduring the life changes their grandchildren face, truly healthy and loving grandparents learn to not take everything personally. It helps to safeguard their relationship, even if they're met by hurtful remarks from their grandchildren.
These passing interactions are learning moments and growing pains, not a reflection of a child's true intentions or mentality. Willing to give their families the benefit of the doubt amid the chaos and stress of life and parenting, good grandparents choose how to advocate for themselves in ways that keep that bond intact.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor's degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
