Generation Gaps

Naturally, my grandma and I are from different generations. She would be considered the “silent generation” growing up during the depression and coming of age during WWII. This group is considered to be traditionalists and this would describe my grandmother pretty accurately (minus the silent part – she is very vocal about her opinions).

Personally, I am a millennial and would be considered much more progressive. Now that I’m married and have children, what I share with my grandma gets a lot of reactions. I can recall one phone conversation where I shared that I would check to make sure something worked for my husband and she was just baffled. It must have been related to the kids.

“Husbands having the opinion is new to me. Your grandfather had nothing to do with the raising of the kids. It was my decision to do that.”

I’m sure my grandfather was an active father, but I do feel that the role of “active father” has evolved over time.

One thing my grandma is constantly on my case about is cooking. She is always sending meat with my parents whenever they visit just for my husband because she is concerned I’m not feeding him enough. (Trust me- he is fine).

I told her once that if he was starving then he could cook himself a steak.

“I know things have changed, but you should really take care of him.”

Every phone call from her starts with, “Where are you? You never know these days with cell phones” followed quickly with, “What are you making for dinner?” She always has to make sure I’m feeding everyone and likes to comment on my lack of diverse cooking skills.

While enough of our conversations include some eye rolls from me and “okay, grandma” just to move the conversation along, it is interesting to literally hear and see how things have changed over time. I’m okay with the changes and she is fine sharing her opinion when she isn’t okay with them.

I’m just grateful that we can still have these conversations.

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma!