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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider An honor and privilege to have grandparents

An honor and privilege to have grandparents

Published Sep 9, 2023 04:05 pm

E CARTOON SEP 10, 2023 (2).jpg

Today is Grandparents Day, a special day for Lolo and Lola, which is celebrated in many countries at different days of the year.


Setting a day to honor grandparents reflects the universal feeling of love, honor and respect for elders.  In the Filipino culture, grandparents are part of the family – whether or not they live in the same house as their adult children.  And when grandparents choose to live with a child’s family, it is considered as an honor to take care of one’s parents.


Grandparents play many roles – from caregiver, tutor, mentor, confidant, family historian, fairy-godparent who makes children’s wishes come true, to many other tasks that endear them to their apos (grandchildren) and their parents.


An important role of grandparents is that of historian.  Through stories and commentaries, Lolo and Lola pass on the oral history of the family, relating incidents that link people as relatives, friends, allies, or anti-family. Their stories also include the high and lows of the past, when the family went through victory or defeat, good times and hard times, and even food recipes that had been passed on for many generations.  These bits of information, many of which were also passed on to them by elders, will continue the family heritage and strengthen the bond that ties people together for generations.


Children will not only remember these stories but will also learn values from the way grandparents and other elders lived their lives. The values of love, perseverance, sense of responsibility, honesty, work ethics are only a few of what children will take on to adulthood.  The actions and stories of Lolo and Lola will help mold more good citizens of the future generation.


Lolo and Lola will most likely be remembered for the time and care they gave to the younger members of the family. Their acts of love – driving a kid to school every day, learning math just to help an apo with homework, scouring the shops to look for materials for a school assignment, waiting for an apo to finish art, ballet or piano lessons—teach the value of love for family.


Their acts of giving up their own leisure and personal time to help a grandchild teach the value of responsibility to help those who need their assistance even if that means giving up watching their favorite basketball game, meeting with friends, walking sessions, or even a long-planned trip abroad.


Those are actions that state the obvious – a grandparent is part of the family!


Today, we honor these selfless group of people called grandparents.


In the Philippines, the celebration is said to have started in 1987. Senate Bill No. 2371 filed on Aug. 1, 2023, by Senator Imee Marcos, which is still pending, aims to designate the second Sunday of September as the National Grandparents’ Day. The Senate bill, seeks to declare that day “to pay tribute to our Filipino family elders who have shown us nothing but love and affection all throughout our lives.”
 

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