AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WYTV) — With Positive Parenting, we try to pass on advice from the experts to moms and dads on raising children. But we haven’t gone to the older parents yet for what they might have to offer.
Daybreak’s Len Rome has this week’s lesson — we’ll call it Positive Grandparenting.
Len says the seasoned citizens in Austintown have spent years raising their own children, then worrying about their adult children and now grandkids as well.
He spoke to various seniors at Austintown Senior Center, and they shared their advice.
“Always give them a chance to explain everything that’s happening. If something goes wrong, don’t automatically start yelling, you know, find out what the reason is first,” one resident said.
Another resident had a piece of advice for parents watching their children raise their grandchildren.
“Support what they want to do, keep them in school and listen to them, be involved in their lives.”
An employee of the center said she has a good relationship with her grandparents and that they’ll sometimes tell her not to listen to her parents and take advice from them instead.
Len says so far, we’re hearing stay in school, get a job and hug your parents. One resident said her children have her trained well.
“My children make me call when I get home and they want to make sure I get home safe all the time.”
She said she is happy with the way her kids have raised her grandchildren, and that her only advice is that they keep doing what they’re doing.
Len says maybe you’ve heard that old saying there are two great gifts you can give your children: your time and their freedom.
