One major life transition is becoming grandparents, experienced by us for the first time last month. I admit Adalie is a lovely little person, but she still seems a wee lump. I was initially scared to even hold her. I find it hard to believe that 30 years ago I was holding Adalie’s mother in the same state of utter dependence.
I don’t recall the trepidation, however, of holding such a little human back then. Adalie and her Mom had similar measurements at birth, but I distinctly remember our daughter seeming 50 percent bigger! Of course, we as a society know so much more than we did then, enough to worry and make us a little paranoid that we’re doing the right thing.
After a grandparents class (yes!), my husband and I left the class in a slight daze.
He said, “I feel I should get counseling to get over everything we did wrong.”
The instruction in various car seats was particularly mind-boggling. How did we raise two healthy, well-adjusted daughters, we wondered? We raised them the way parents have for generations before us—with love, advice from grandparents, and some common sense. Now parents have to read the latest in parenting books, and grandparents sometimes are relegated to semi-dinosaur status.
One big change is the way that babies are put to sleep. They are put on their backs versus their stomachs. The decrease in SIDS has been dramatic, but now parents must allow “tummy time” to prevent their soft heads from becoming misshapen.
Have you seen infants in helmets? Weird, huh?
We are amazed at the reaction of other grandparents; they are excited and happy for us. They know something I’d forgotten. I can hold her, I can sing to her and read stories with a funny voice. They know it’s going to be fun.
