The Mulberry Tree - The Magic of Grandchildren

It's been said that Grandchildren are so fun, it would be good to skip the kids and have grand kids first.

A grandpa or Nana (which is what my wife is called in our house) is a trusted adult who is not your parent. They can love you in a way that other adults can't.

This is not meant to put down all the wonderful adults who work with kids - coaching, teaching, leading, etc. but to highlight a significant role that grandparents can have.

Being a grandparent is a whole different level of interaction, and grandparents get to play a very important role in the development of great adults.

Who else is going to teach to you spit? ... or eat ice cream for breakfast? Certainly not your parents.

But our most important role, by far, is to believe in our grand kids so much, that we help them discover who they are, to try new things, and to look at the world in wonder.

In our house, my wife (Nana) is always coming up with new experiences for our two grand kids. Helping create cookies, build new crafts, scavenger hunts with a great prize at the end, and sleep overs. She's taught them how to properly set a table (like her mom taught our kids). I've taught them about power tools and let them help me fix things.

We do things together... and it's so much fun.

And when they are dirty and smelly and full of sugar, we send them home. :)

If you look at my photos on Flickr (link below), you will notice a distinct lack of people in the images.  (A bird or tree NEVER comes up and asks me to delete the photo I just took because it made them look fat...)  

My grandkids are the exception.   I take lots of pictures of them.

I know from experience that they will grow up in a heartbeat, and I want to capture and remember these moments.

I know their parents are in the manic stage of life, and don't have the time we do, so the photos will help them remember these stages.

But secretly, I take these photos for me.

I try to capture the wonder of discovery I see in my grand kids.

I think the photos I've included in this post show it well.  My granddaughter realizing that the Mulberry tree in our backyard could produce such a bounty of delightful goodness, or my grandson fascinated by something on the rocky beach. 

Everything is new.

Everything is fresh.

There's a big world out there to discover.

... and I'm reminded that I need to remember that for myself.

To not be jaded by the world, by people who have let me down, by hardship and heartlessness.

I need that childlike sense of wonder to believe I can actually make a difference in this world.

So...

I may be teaching my grand kids things, but they are teaching me much more.

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Images: KWPashuk

About the Author:

I'm convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.

In addition to transforming IT in my role as CIO, I look for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee (https://www.bebee.com/@kevin-pashuk) , LinkedIn, ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.

I also shoot things... with my camera. Check out my photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/kwpashuk