Grandparents' day

Grandparents surely welcome the setting aside of a special day for them. Actually even without such a special day, Filipinos already give due honor and respect and take good care of their parents, grandparents and elders. In fact this is one of the most admired traits for which the Filipino people are known worldwide. But having a special day for them is still very much appreciated by the grandparents, including my wife Josie and me, even if there is obviously a commercial purpose behind it.

This practice is apparently of recent vintage only. What has been practiced and fixed yearly for quite a long time already is only the mothers’ and fathers’ day. But businessmen must have undoubtedly seen that the number of grandparents is increasing rapidly and because of their sharp business sense they clearly see a corresponding rise in their profit charts if they fix a special day for grandparents. Hence we now have fathers’, mothers’ and grandparents day.

But aside from the commercial value for our entrepreneurs and merchandisers, a day especially set aside yearly for grandparents surely has some sentimental value for the grandmas and grandpas themselves. They would really enjoy spending at least a specific day each year just reminiscing and going back down memory lane. It is truly quite nostalgic for them to recall the ups and downs in their lives, the successes and failures they have been through and the many beautiful memories they have built as parents of their own children before they were relegated to the role of grandparents when their children themselves became parents.

Setting aside a day each year as grandparents’ day also has some spiritual value. It will enable them, as the sun continues to inexorably set on their lives, to count their blessings and give thanks to the Almighty One who has bestowed them all. This is indeed one occasion when the grandparents could realize and remind themselves that at the sunset of their lives nothing is more important than being spiritually prepared for their inevitable departure from this world. Indeed, just reaching this stage and getting the chance to prepare themselves spiritually are enough blessings to be thankful for.

A grandparents’ day every year likewise has some familial value. Actually every day should be grandparents’ day as far as this value is concerned. But it is also especially delightful to look forward to as an exclusive day to be with the family particularly the grand children (and great grand children). To be sure, it is even necessary as it would definitely protect and strengthen the family itself which our Constitution recognizes as the basic autonomous social institution and the foundation of the nation.

Protecting and strengthening the family would be enhanced if grandparents would have a time for bonding with their grandchildren, the same kind of bonding they had with their children. Despite the age difference, grandparents definitely would like to have closer ties with them and be their barkadas. It would really be nice if grandparents could exchange notes with the rest of the family in the many aspects of their family life.

Another way of strengthening family ties is for grandparents to bridge the generation gap with their grandchildren. Most, if not all grandparents are silently longing to find out the likes and dislikes of their grandchildren, their problems and their aspirations. They would really love to be kept abreast of latest trend especially in the information technology where the grandkids are undoubtedly more up to date. Some grandparents in fact use the Facebook to play games with their grandchildren in an effort to bridge that generation gap.

Much as they would like to be up to date with their grandkids’ latest hobbies and activities, grandparents would also like to share their life’s experiences and lessons as well as the age old traditions and customs handed down from generation to generation that impart the proper moral values in life so important in protecting the grandchildren against too much materialism of the modern world. Grandparents after all are still aware that it is still their duty to strengthen family solidarity and actively promote its total development as called for by the Constitution.

Aside from its commercial value, having a grandparents’ day each year therefore has some sentimental, spiritual, and familial values. But there is another, more significant point of view which our capitalists, entrepreneurs and merchandisers may have knowingly or unknowingly missed when they recognized the growing number of grandparents as reason enough to set a special day for them. More grandparents simply mean that our population is aging; there is a growing number of older Filipinos and lesser number of children being born. Yet with this alarming situation, there are still moves in Congress at the urgings of some foreign funded groups to control our population growth by preventing or limiting the birth of more children. When our businessmen therefore fixed a grandparents day, they may have also unwittingly awaken our officials to the inadvisability of enacting those bills that have something to do with population control.

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