Loving grandma and grandpa
P. SUJATHA VARMA
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Grandparents are extra special people. Take care of them with Love.
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Everlasting bond: With the Grandparents
For some children entertainment means staying glued to television set. But, there also exists a separate set, though reduced to a minority, of kids who rely on a healthy option of amusement. Gifted with a life that they share with their doting grandparents, they are alien to what their many peers call ‘dearth of choices’ to keep one amused. They treat themselves on the rich treasure of stories that the granny relates at bedtime. Your grandparents may mean a wor
ld to you and you may be a great source of happiness for them, but did you ever spare a thought for their needs? Did you ever try to reciprocate their love and affection? Take time off to think about it because not many will emerge guilt-free souls after a soul-searching session.
Reach out
Loneliness, deprivation and desperation among the aged are underlying issues that are disturbingly common. Mistreatment of the elderly infects almost every part of the world. A growing number of elderly people, many of them unwanted by their children, are crumbling under a heavy emotional burden.
The acute shortage of homes for the aged is a telling story of the deteriorating plight of the elderly people. HelpAge India is an organisation dedicated to fight against the isolation and neglect heaped on senior citizens. The series of schemes it has launched in its last 30 years of existence goes to show how serious the issue of ageing is. The organisation extends services to over one million beneficiaries of various welfare schemes and provides treatment to the sick and ailing through its mobile medicare units. Then there is the “Sponsor a grandparent” scheme for 20,000 grandparents besides the many income-generating projects. Rehabilitation of the “rejected and dejected” old people is the need of the hour.
“The status of a grandfather in most households is generally reduced to that of a “care-taker” of the children. While the grandmother helps in daily chores, besides taking care of the children once they return home from school, it is the grandfather’s duty to drop and pick up the children from school,” points out S. Dass, the Joint Director for HelpAge India in Andhra Pradesh.
“We want schools to play an active role in inculcating a sense of responsibility among children at a young age. Children should frequently visit homes for the aged to get a first hand account of their sufferings,” he opined.
October 1 is the International Day for the Aged and HelpAge India has appealed to schools to celebrate the occasion.
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