"Their father died in 2003. He was in his early 40s, and he died from cancer. The kids saw this, and it was awful. They say people don't die of broken hearts, but I think this was a terrible thing for their mother, my daughter, and my only child. She died a little over a year later in 2004. I don't have much time with my grandchildren anymore."
"I was hurting, and these kids were too. They just didn't show it the way I did. They were rebelling in some ways, and I held it all inside. Our thinking is so far out compared to theirs. My husband was in his 70s, and I was in my late 60s. I couldn't raise these kids the way I raised my own children."
An 87-year-old church secretary and editorial assistant in New Orleans raised her two grandchildren after their father died of cancer in 2003 and their mother died in 2004. The grandchildren were 13 and 11 when placed under their grandparents' legal guardianship, and the grandparents balanced caregiving with ongoing work. The age difference created challenges in parenting style, discipline, and emotional expression as the family adjusted to new routines. Over time the grandchildren grew up and became independent, traveling and making plans the grandmother could not always join because of continued work commitments.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]