"Grandma" or "Glamma" -- What's In A Name

Today our local newspaper contained an article from the Arizona Republic about how "Boomer grandparents love the grandkids, hate the 'granny' image." It's all about how grandparents are trying to come up with better names than the traditional "grandma" or "grandpa".

According to the article, "Boomers are going to change what it means to be a grandparent... and they want names that reflect that relationship." Interesting. I didn't know that love, affection, support, caring, and interest in the children would really change from generation to generation.

But one woman stated, "I will bake cookies. I will do all the grandmotherly things, but I see being something more silly and fun." Oh! Silly and fun. Okay. So you're going to BE a grandmother, and ACT like a grandmother, but you can't use the "g-word" because you want to be seen as "silly and fun". Sounds like a classic mid-life crisis to me!

Another woman goes on to state, "I'm not a little old lady with white hair sitting in a rocking chair and kitting. And I'm going to be called this in public." Oh heaven forbid! Someone might call her "grandma"! And that is shameful? Gosh I pity those poor grandchildren.

I just found the whole article so pathetic. In the midst of what could be a beautiful relationship between generations, these grandparents seem more concerned about their own image than in their grandchildren. Who cares what the children are calling you!

And why not let the children use a term that they feel fits, rather than the grandparents dictating the names? The article talks about Goldie Hawn wanting to be called "Glamma". Gosh, wouldn't that be embarrassing to the grandchildren?

My parents kind of fell in to their grandparent names when my brother had his first child. The names have stuck. They are nothing "silly and cute". They are certainly names that the one woman quoted in the article would probably be ashamed to be called in public. And they are defining their relationship with my sons in it's own unique way -- which is different from their relationship with my brother's children, and different from their relationship with my sister's children.

So Mom Mom and Pop Pop they are. And you know what? They are silly and cute with the boys. They beam when they are introduced to our friends as "Michael and Matthew's Mom Mom and Pop Pop". They have the most beautiful grandparent-grandchild relationships I could ever imagine. (Although I still wish they were closer.)

Thank you, Mom Mom and Pop Pop, for being the best grandparents I could imagine. And for not letting society and images dictate what kind of relationship that should be.