During a talk I gave to a senior citizens group a woman in the audience
remarked, 'I'm a volunteer helper in a class of first graders at (naming a
nearby school.) I haven't given it much thought until now, but I've come
to realize that some youngsters see their grandparents regularly, others
rarely, and still others see their grandparents not at all. For a few,
grandparents live too far away, and others don't know where their
grandparents live or even if they have grandparents, but saddest of all are
the kids who don't know what grandparents are.'
Grandparents and grandchildren are natural allies, but when their homes
are too far apart, or other barriers intervene, their alliance weakens.
Everybody loses, including the youngsters' parents-the generation in the
middle.