Growing-Up

Time with Grandpa

Well, my son just started 5^th grade! “Where did the time go? Before you know it he’s going to be all grown-up!”  What parent hasn’t said this once or twice?

I even remember my Grandma referring to my dad and his sisters as “You kids.” My brother and I always found this very funny.  We would respond, “Does that make us babies then?” My grandma would just smile and say, “You’re the little kids, and they are the big kids.”

Now that I am a parent and a little older I totally get this.  I guess I have also come to realize that in some ways we are always kids.  What makes a kid a kid?  The dictionary defines kid: a child or young person.  I may not be a child anymore, but the likelihood that I am always going to be younger than someone else, until God takes me home, is pretty high.

I remember when my son was very little he asked when he was going to be older than his big brothers.  Needless to say, he was not happy when he found out that they were always going to be older than him even when he became a grown-up.

As children we look to the older people around us to guide and direct us to adulthood.  Why then do we suddenly stop this once we arrive? People haven’t stopped being older than us have they?

I am not saying that wisdom always comes with age, but the chances certainly go up.  There will always be a percentage of the population that refuses to gain wisdom from any situation.  Then again, I am still saddened when I see seniors being neglected or mistreated when they have so much to still teach and contribute to our lives.  I am equally saddened when I see a senior believing that they have nothing to offer the world any longer.

They have something that cannot be purchased for any amount of money, learned at any school, or inherited through any blood line. Good or bad, successful or unsuccessful they will always have something that you don’t. They have experience!  Don’t let that experience go to waste.  Let’s make sure we pass it along because some day our children will be all grown-up and they will need to do the same.

Make spending time with the seniors in your life a priority for you and your children today. Before you know it they will be all grown-up and you don’t want to find yourself asking “Where did the time go?”