There’s no such thing as the perfect grandad.
But there are different ways we show up.
I think about it using two simple questions:
How well do I understand the world my grandchildren are growing up in?
And:
How much am I actually showing up in it?
Put those two questions together and you get four kinds of grandad.
DEFAULT GRANDAD
You love your grandkids, but you’re mostly doing grandparenting the way it’s always been done.
KNOWING GRANDAD
You understand a lot about their world, but you’re not showing up as much as you’d like.
WILLING GRANDAD
You might not understand their world yet, but you’re there, you’re interested and you’re willing to learn.
MODERN GRANDAD
You’re making the effort to understand their world — and showing up in it.
These aren’t labels.
And they certainly aren’t grades.
You might recognise yourself in more than one. You might move between them as life changes.
The point isn’t to decide whether you’re a good grandad or a bad one.
It’s simply to stop for a moment and ask:
Where am I now?
And perhaps the more interesting question:
Where would I like to be?
There’s no finish line here.
Modern Grandad is a direction of travel.
I’m figuring this out myself.
If you are too, come along with me.
You know where you’d like to be. Now there’s another question worth asking: how much time do you have?
How Much Time Do You Have?
See your window as a grandad — and the weeks you have to make a difference.