Five lessons from our grandparents
Throughout life we are constantly learning, in fact, life is just one long learning curve. While we get lessons from our parents, friends, siblings and even the challenges we face at school and work, there’s nothing like the lessons we learn from our grandparents.
Our grandparents share so much with us whether we realise it or not. Life lessons delivered from kuia or koro, grandma or grandpa, provide so much value no matter what age you are and help shape you into the person you become. Here are five lessons we think grandparents can teach our little ones… and us!
Be Present
It seems simple but, in today’s world full of technology and distractions, giving someone your full attention can be rare. It’s not hard to see the attentiveness of our grandparents. They can hold a whole conversation with eye contact, and there is no competing for their attention with their mobile phones.
Hands on skills
It’s not strange to see grandad’s workshop full of tools, his solution for every fix-it problem; or grandma sitting down knitting us a new wardrobe. Grandparents always seem to be busy doing something. It makes sense too - without the many things that fill our days today, they had their whole day to create something out of nothing - and they did it wonderfully! There are plenty of memories to be made and lessons to learn when helping them to harvest the latest crop of strawberries from the garden or cook up a hearty meal in the kitchen.
How to laugh
Often your favourite grandparent will be the one who makes you laugh the most. The one who has the best hugs, sneaks you treats while your parents aren’t looking and of course, makes you laugh until your belly hurts. Grandad’s cringe jokes or grandma’s cheeky giggle reminds you that laughter is the best remedy to most of life’s challenges. Your grandparents have developed a sense of humour over many years, in the face of adversity and hardship they learned to laugh. After all, laughter is the best medicine.
Life is short
When you’re young, it’s easy to think life goes on forever! Your grandparents will tell you that when you get older, time seems to be go so much faster. There’s a perspective that comes with that - to make the most of your life. It sounds cliché but when you reach your later years and look back at the things you worried over or the challenges you faced, you’ll wonder why you ever worried about them at all.
It's ok to make mistakes
It’s ok for things to be messy sometimes. You haven’t really lived if you have never experienced something that doesn’t go to plan. Our grandparents know that life doesn’t always go our way and sometimes it’s a struggle, but that’s ok. Being human doesn’t come with an instruction manual (if you find one, please let us know!). A mistake is the biggest learning experience we can have – good or bad it always teaches us something.
No matter what lessons you learn from your grandparents they are a treasure trove of wisdom learned through their life experiences. What lessons have you learned from your grandparents?
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