5 good reasons to talk about our childhood to our grandchildren

 

Our memories are pretty interesting to our grandchildren. And for us too, for that matter. The proof is in the pudding.

 

It helps them put things in perspective. 

Finishing your plate, accepting lights out at 8:00 p.m., being limited in the amount of time you can speak at the table—these are not excerpts from the best-selling book My Life Under a Parental Dictatorship, but rather a few memories from our younger years. which, moreover, did not leave us excessively traumatized. What is the point of sharing these little stories? To allow our grandchildren to see that we can do things differently without it being drama. Diversity is good. If we can tell them that respecting the limits set is not impossible either, then we have won everything.

It's a citizen's approach. 

To tell the youngest that in our time we didn't go around in sedan chairs and that we didn't wear wigs allows us to give them some reference points! As for the older ones, reminding them that there was a time, not so long ago, when women could not work without their husband's permission (until 1965 anyway), that they did not have the possibility of adopting an effective method of contraception (1967) and even less to have free access to abortion (1975), is enlightening. It gives significant reference points in the evolution of society.

It brings us closer. 

It is a way of putting us back in their steps, to better understand them and to make us understand. It is a way of putting us back in their steps, to better understand them and to make us understand. It is also a way to point out to them that, as old as we appear to them, we share many things, from our family history to our humanity.

We find ourselves 

We often live anchored between the present and the future, trapped by our obligations for today and our plans for tomorrow. As a result, we don't take the time to sit back and reflect on our existence. Scrolling through our memories, with and for them, gives us a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with the past, to analyze our path, the pitfalls we've crossed... It's also a pretext to learn from the path we've taken, to see what was beautiful and successful, or what we missed (and how to improve).

It enriches them. 

A tree cannot stand without roots. The adage also applies to human beings. Knowing where you come from helps you feel stronger. Knowing our family history allows us to be a part of a temporality that extends beyond us, making us greater in some ways. This is what we offer to our grandchildren: a story that is bigger than they are but in which they have their place, and whose continuation they will invent. It's up to them.