GRANDPartner for GRANDParents
Grands and grandkids united in fun BY SUE ELLEN COOPER
W
hich generation do we grands relate to best, our children or our grandchildren? The answer may be counterintuitive. Although our grandchildren are further separated in age, we may find we have more in common with them than we do with their parents. Comedian Sam Levinson often said that grandparents and grandchildren tended to join forces against what he called “their common enemy” - the parents! You know it’s true. Who backs up the little ones when they want to stay up later? Who says an extra cookie won’t cause irreparable harm? We always take the grandkid’s side! Of course we’re on the parents’ team in serious situations, but we do let love blind us to the requirements of justice sometimes. Just ask my daughter.
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Even as an adult, I still enjoy the occasional goofy activity.
We realize life doesn’t need to be taken so seriously all the time. Children recognize the need for silliness and frivolity. Grandparents have – perhaps rather belatedly - begun to rediscover that joy and see it as healthy and acceptable. Their parents’ job is to enforce the rules; they don’t get to have as much fun as we other two generations do. As Red Hat Society founder, I enjoy a special link with thousands of women around the world. When my granddaughters were little, they loved playing dress-up; so they were simpatico with the dressing up they saw me doing with my Red Hatted friends. They loved my purple sequined jackets, bright red feather boas, and glittery “diamond” jewelry, etc. They thought it was really cool that Grandma was still playing.
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JANUARY FEBRUARY 2017
They get a kick out of this; it keeps us bonded and enhances our enjoyment of each other. The girls appreciate that even as an adult, I still enjoy the occasional goofy activity and am willing to play another round of their favorite game. Women who join the Red Hat Society before turning 50 wear pink hats until they reach “the age” for red ones. As newborns, both of my granddaughters came home from the hospital in pink hats – perhaps prophetically. Links like this have built powerful bonds between them and me, bonds that, I hope, will only grow stronger in the years to come. Sue Ellen Cooper Exalted Queen Mother Red Hat Society