The Positive Side of Intergenerational Transmission

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When we were raising our four children I loved being with our parents. We enjoyed their company. It also meant a break from the demands of parenting.

When we were at my parents’ house or in-laws’ house we rarely if ever had to cook, clean or even closely supervise our children. If we spent the night it meant getting up just long enough to make sure that one of the grandparents was watching the kids before going back to bed to get an extra hour or two of sleep.

I don’t think I took it for granted. I was grateful. But I was often so tired and overwhelmed that it was just nice to know that I could count on the kind of help our parents provided.

Now that I am a grandparent myself, I can’t help doing the same for our children. This is what positive generational transmission looks like.

Intergenerational transmission is the unwritten rules and automatic behaviors transmitted from one generation to the next. We often don’t think about it because it happens automatically.

In family systems theory we often talk about the negative aspects of intergenerational transmission such as substance-abuse or physical or emotional abuse. But good things get passed on, too.

Now, when I am with our grandchildren, I want to do everything possible to care for them. Part of it is getting a chance to bond with them in a very special way. But I believe the deeper part of it is this idea that this is what grandparents do. It’s automatic. I am like a moth attracted to a light at dusk. I can’t help myself.

That said, I can already tell that holding one of our grandsons early in the morning or while everybody else is eating is giving us a closeness that will last our entire lives. I also take pleasure in knowing that our children and their spouses are getting a little bit of a break. I know the demands of parenting are relentless. I know that we can’t do it for them and that they will find their way through. But I like the fact that we can give them a break every now and then. It’s a win-win-win. It’s good for us. It’s good for them. And it’s good for our grandchildren

That’s the positive side of intergenerational transmission.

The Rev. Jack Shitama serves as executive director of Pecometh Camp & Retreat Ministries in Maryland.  This post is republished with permission from his blog The Non-Anxious Leader.