When my kids were about 4 and 5, we had a long-term house guest who was a friend of my sister’s (Living in South Florida, this happened a lot). As Thanksgiving approached, Pat (our guest) asked if there was a way we could reach out to our community and see if we could serve someone who may benefit from Family at this time of year. Long story short, she reached out to the local Children’s Mental Health facility. Think 1972.
The result was that our family, with Pat’s help, created what was then called the Visiting Friends program. (Sadly, it is not doable in today’s climate.) This program manifested in us and other families bringing a soon-to-be-discharged child into our home about once a month to help them re-accumulate to normal family life in a Loving and Nurturing family setting. There was no putting on airs, just us being us. It was very rewarding for us and for a few young kids as well.
I remember one wonderful young man named Rodney who came for about three months. He was about six or seven, and he fit right in with our kids.
One day, we were headed out to the beach, and I heard Rodney ask, “Why are you all in my hair?” The answer is that he had hair like a young Michael Jackson (picture on the right, Michael in the middle) when he was part of the Jackson Five. It fascinated my kids. He wasn’t upset; he just didn’t understand that my kids were so curious about something natural to him. The magic of this moment is that this was a non-charged, normal kids interacting event that has resulted in my two kids being comfortable and passing along to their kids the inclusion of someone who looks very different than them. In our family, it is not an issue.
Jackson 5 Wallpapers | wallpapers.com
This story sets the stage for something I think is very important, if not existential at this point in the history of this little space ship we are all inhabiting. I offer for your consideration something that is near and dear to my heart and is a core value I have tried to impart to my kids and Grandkids.
For the past 10 years i have been getting a valuable email each day called “WORD OF THE DAY” from a site called “Gratefulness.org” that starts my day out in a positive direction. I say this to say that this organization is and has been very credible.
My hope is that this will be thought provoking to all of you Caring Grandparents.