Since 1978, we have celebrated on the first Sunday of September after Labor Day a particular group of individuals that make up over 80 million of our population. They go by many different names: Nana and Papa, Mawmaw and Pawpaw, Meme and Papaw, Gramms and Gramps, Grammie and Grampie, Gam Gam and Pop Pop, or a host of other possibilities. We know them collectively as grandparents and today is National Grandparent’s Day.
Officially, the origins of this day are traced to Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade who was recognized by President Jimmy Carter as the founder of this day. Her efforts led to a congressional resolution in 1977 which requested the president to “issue annually a proclamation designating the first Sunday of September after Labor Day of each year as National Grandparents Day.” After Congress passed the resolution, on August 3, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation. The statute cites the day’s purpose: “…to honor grandparents, to give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children, and to help children become aware of strength, information, and guidance older people can offer.”1
Another individual, though, who has been credited with the founding of this day is Michael Goldgar. During the 1970s, “he visited his aunt in an Atlanta nursing home. Spending $11,000 of his own money in lobbying efforts to have the day officially recognized, he made 17 trips to Washington DC over a seven-year span to meet with legislators.”2
Regardless of who originated this day, it is a worthy day to celebrate. Quite often, grandparents have remarked that if they had known grandchildren could be this much fun, they would have had them sooner! And, considering our society, that says a lot since “about 6.7 million people or 3.3% of adults age 30 and over lived with their grandchildren in 2021, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau report on the characteristics and geography of grandparents living with grandchildren under the age of 18 in the United States…Nationally, roughly 32.7% of grandparents living with their grandchildren under the age of 18 were responsible for their care.”3 Consider
some of their stories:
“Keith and Edit Lowhorne had planned well for their retirement. The Alabama couple were preparing for an extended trip to Europe. They had bought a vacation cabin in Tennessee. “I had worked 43 years in broadcast journalism,” Keith Lowhorne says. “We had saved.” Then everything changed with a phone call, and soon they were raising two grandchildren in their home. That trip to Europe? Never happened.
“Eugene Vickerson had worked two jobs for years in Atlanta — at a water treatment plant and as a real estate investor. All so he could retire at 50. Then one day, when he was 62, he was sitting outside his home when a woman drove up with one of his granddaughters. The woman said, “If you don’t take this child, we are going to put her in protective services.” Forget retiring.
“Mercedes Bristol was living in San Antonio, working for the state of Texas and a few years away from retirement, when circumstances forced her to take in five grandchildren. The oldest was 9. “I didn’t have five beds for kids,” she says. “I remember crying at Walmart because I was so overwhelmed with the amount of supplies that the kids needed.” More than a decade later, three of her grandchildren still live with her, now ages 13, 15 and 19.”4
The role of grandparenting cannot be overemphasized enough. The Christian grandparent should see that they have a Biblical responsibility to those grandkids. Deuteronomy 4:9 says, “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.”
Sadly, a generation of young people has been lost, many despite the Godly training they received. However, there is the possibility that our faithfulness to share the things of the Lord with grandchildren is our next great opportunity.
David wrote in Psalms 71:17-18, “O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. (18) Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”
Grandparents, think about the impact you can have on your grandchildren. It’s not just about following them around to all their ballgames and concerts. It’s about telling them about Jesus and YOU are a voice that they will hear.
2 Timothy 1:3-5 leaves us with this. “I thank God … (5) When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”
1https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-grandparents-day-sunday-after-labor-day
2https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/national-grandparents-day
3https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/03/grandparents-living-with-grandchildren.html
4https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2023/grandparents-become-parents-again.html
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