As a card-carrying member of
the baby boomer generation (I am an AARP member) I was a babe in
my mother’s arms in the early 1950s when babies ruled the world – at least in
the United States. My parents moved to a new house in a new suburb on Long
Island in 1952. Every house sheltered a twenty- or thirty-something couple,
most married following the war. Dads went to work, the majority commuting into ‘the
city’ – New York City, of course. Dad carpooled for a couple of years, but as
the Long Island Expressway morphed into one long, meandering traffic jam, he
switched to the train.
Moms remained at home with a
growing brood of babies. It was a different lifestyle from many of today’s
modern 21st century Moms. They were not constantly chauffeuring kids to
activities, play groups and parties. It was several years before many owned
second cars. Mom either threw the kids in the car (literally – this was before seat belts and car seats) and drove Dad
to the train station, or survived without a car.
Although a lot has changed,
a lot remains the same. Babies are born in the 21st century the same
way they were in the 20th century and for thousands of centuries
before that. Well, most of them are. I do not want to get into a discussion of
alternate means of pregnancy, such as intrauterine insemination, in vitro
fertilization, donor eggs, embryo adoption, surrogacy…I am not even sure what
all of them are.
Anyway, getting back to the
subject at hand, I am spending a week in Denver with my grandchildren. They
live in a fairly new, constantly growing community. Every time I come out there
are more houses, playgrounds, pools, schools, etc. Construction slowed during
the Great Recession, but the pace has quickly increased.
I am in the middle of a 21st
century baby boom. There are young children, babies, and dogs in every house in
the neighborhood. Everywhere I go Dads and Moms haul kids in SUVs and push
double strollers with one or two additional kids walking alongside. It is baby
boomer déjà vu – babies rule the world once again.
My daughter-in-law is in charge of the
kids’ school Book Fair this week. I am here to watch the two-year-old and drive
the kids to school, pick them up, then drive to various after school
activities.
Each morning I get up early
and shower and dress quickly, before the kids descend.
I make sure the two older ones
are dressed and have all school gear ready.
Breakfast is the next order
of business. One or two want pancakes – mini ones from the box in the freezer.
The third wants cold cereal.
Or maybe one wants mini
pancakes, one a bagel, the other a bagel but now there are none left. She’ll
settle for an English muffin – but only if she can spread the butter herself.
One morning one wants mini
pancakes (there is a theme here – the two-year-old
has a one-track mind, at least for breakfast), the other two feast on
banana bread. There is always fruit along with the main course. Mom helps, but
is off to school early.
We collect the dishes, put
everything away, and then collect ourselves. Put on boots (snow on the ground
here in the beginning of the week!) or shoes, and argue about the need for
socks and coats. I manage to get all three in the car, in car seats and booster
seats, belted.
One morning I drive them to
school and we all pile out, only to discover the eight-year-old left his
backpack at home, which he needs because his homework is in it. After making
sure the kindergartener gets to her class, the two-year-old and I drive home, grab
the backpack, hop back in the car, drive back to school, find the third grade
room, drop off the bag, and the two-year-old and I are left to enjoy the day
together. I am already exhausted!
Various activities located
throughout Denver take up most afternoons. Or we just go home to an enjoyable time
of sibling fighting, rivalry, general mayhem, disorder, and pleadings to do
what is prohibited according to The Laws of Mom and Dad but which the kids
figure Grandma will let them do.
Such is life for a new baby
boom generation and their Grandma. But here’s a pleasant thought – all these
kids will grow up, go to work, and pump money into the Social Security and
Medicare systems, assuming the programs are still around. So Mom and Dad can
breathe easy. They are not just raising kids. They are planning for their own retirement.
3 comments:
I am always exhausted after time with the grand children. I try to keep them physically active or engaged in quiet projects that do not involve tv or computer games. I recall time with my own grand mother as being very similar to time at home--go out and play. My grandmother always told us to stay away from the creek but my mother never bothered about that.
I got tired just reading! That's how I feel with my grandkids too.
The echo of the Baby Boom echo has yet to reach my house. In other words, no grandchildren yet. None on the way. A couple of girlfriends/boyfriends, but no marriages. We're slow in my family.
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