Leaving Jazz with you. Will be right back.” That was my son rushing out of the house.
I was still in a daze, thinking it was a Sunday and that I could catch some extra sleep with Jazz, when I realized it was Monday, my Inquirer day and, lately, Jazz day, Jazz being my latest grandson from Joaquin. They live separately from me, but have lately been staying over with me because Joaquin had an accident and surgery.
I could feel Jazz landing on my bed and crawling straight to Chichi, my Inquirer dachshund, who absolutely loves Jazz.
I knew if I didn’t act fast enough, I’d end up with both Jazz and Chichi cradling each other and going straight to sleep, me included.
I did give the three of us a reprieve as I struggled to think of my column topic, and it didn’t take too long for me to decide I’d write about becoming conscripted into the latest army of grandparents called to serve as surrogate parents. This was actually my third. The first was Joaquin and his three sisters, now aged 13 to 22. The second was four boys, who I consider more as grandsons, now aged 2 to 9. (I did plan my family, mainly by adopting.)
How could I say no to Joaquin, even with the extra tough week ahead? I figured things would fall into place. Old memories return quickly, from baby recipes, to shifting schedules around, and adjusting for new handicaps like the housekeeper going on leave or University of the Philippines Diliman having final exams.
I admit I do panic at times when I overestimate myself. Mindfulness becomes all the more important, including recognizing when you are taking risks for two people and sometimes doubling the risk, but with one less guardrail. Like when you’re preparing human baby food, dog baby food, and adult dog food!
I have yet to find good grandparenting guidebooks, especially for today’s technologies. I’m tempted to just ditch all the electronic gadgets given the warnings.
And guess what, the greatest value-added technology “lolos” and “lolas” can transmit would be mother languages. I find more and more young students complaining they never learned their mother language(s) because their parents and grandparents gave more attention to English. Grandparents would be the best to teach mother languages.
Yes there are super grand uncles and aunts too. I’m suddenly remembering how a granduncle ended up enhancing the Mandarin and Hokkien Chinese language skills of two of his grandnieces, one of whom was my sister.
This granduncle also taught them to appreciate kung fu movies and Cantonese food. He did this by bringing them to Chinatown in Ongpin on Saturdays. apparently they used English as their lingua franca. I never asked why the male children in our clan never got those benefits!
It’s harder, I think, for aspiring super lolos. Lolas will have a larger reserve of practical info. Sweltering in the heat, I’ve thought of a good guide to handwoven mats or “banig.”
Which would mean learning to position ourselves on the mat and learning to block the kids from rolling off. That will mean recruiting the family dogs and cats, who are amazing when blocking kids from rolling off.
All said, super grandparenting offers us old ones renewed chances to grow up, literally with our children and grandchildren, and to uncover moments of joy, triumph, and wonder.
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