SEASON 1 EPISODE 9
February 2nd at 10 AM PT/ 7 PM CET
Active Wisdom: what grandparents can give us and our children
WITH ANN ROBERTS
Ann is bringing a fresh new perspective on what grandparents could be today. As a grandma herself and having done extensive studies on the subject, she lays out a picture for the relationships in families and especially those with grandparents in the 21st century.
STREAMED LIVE HERE on February 3rd 2017
HEIDI’S INTRODUCTION
Grandparents have played an important role in families throughout history. Grandmas took care for the children when mothers and fathers were busy with household or field duties. In earlier times that work was significant, in comparison to present times, because of primitive labor technology. Grandpas traditionally were the head of the family clan and held sway over everyone. But things have changed during the last decades, families are smaller, but often with four or even five generations alive at the same time. The advent of technology, prosperity, education and health care has changed the world of the family significantly.
Grandparents tend live on their own now,they want to enjoy their own lives and have a much longer healthy life expectancy. They still take care of their grandchildren, but often in a quite different way than in the past. What is different? What is it like to be a grandparenting now? What does being a grandparent give us, our children and our grandchildren in the 21st century. There does not seem to be many up to date studies around this topic. So Ann Roberts in exploring her own grandparenting found an uncultivated field for her research. We will glimpse some of that during our conversation.
ABOUT ANN ROBERTS
Ann says about herself:
I love being a Grandmother. After ten years of being an “empty nester”, the arrival of grandchildren brought joy to my and my husband’s lives; they are a wonderful surprise. Having grandchildren has brought us into even closer relationship with each other and with our adult children, and provided us with opportunities to heal family dynamics.
In 2015 as I headed for retirement, I was very aware of this being the first time since I was 21 that I would not have an employment contract. I was rather unsettled by the prospect and I decided I would go back to University and undertake a Masters to develop a new skill-set as a Social Researcher. During my dissertation research I encountered a wonderful book called Composing a Further Life by Mary Catherine Bateson. I discovered that my unsettledness was not that unusual and was indicative of moving into a stage in my life cycle that she called Active Wisdom. As I was experiencing, a transition through ‘retirement’ can often be tinged with a sense of withdrawal, confusion and loss of identity. What she challenged me to see was that this could be a wonderful opportunity to access my natural inner drive to share the wisdom I have gained from my rich life experience. To step into a refreshed engagement with life that harnessed a new sense energy and commitment to the wellbeing of others and myself.
My research interest is how Baby Boomers are making the most this stage of “Active Wisdom”. I want to create connections, conversations and programs that develop the wellbeing of my generation in the service the people we love.At this event we will have a conversation about what I gathered both from my personal journey over the last year and from the contribution of the grandparents I interviewed. It was a great experience to be in conversation with such wise elders who in different ways were committed to making a difference to the people they love.
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