Now, obviously not all Baby Boomer grandparents are horrible self-absorbed people with zero interest in their grandchildren. And I can personally attest that it was not unheard of for Greatest Generation grandparents to be similarly disinterested; while I was close to one set of grandparents, I had virtually no contact with the other pair. But as Generation X has children, it is discovering that many Baby Boomers have even less interest in their grandchildren than they did in the "latchkey children" they produced.
The defining moment that convinced me I never want to be a grandmother came a few months ago. We were invited to a friend's 60th birthday lunch in a lovely riverside gastro pub. Six couples who had known each other for decades. And my friend's two grandchildren.The Baby Boomers are, on average, all about the attention. They never recovered from being told how important they were. Here is a woman in her seventh decade who is upset because a pair of children are getting more attention that she does. What does this tell you? Don't expect a woman to grow out of her solipsism. A solipsistic woman never matures, she only ages.
He and his wife had been asked to look after the little darlings for the day, and were certain the lunch guests wouldn't mind. Well, the others may not have done, but I most certainly did - a lot. Instead of chatting and laughing about old times like we usually did, the conversation centred on what the six and eight-year-olds were doing at school, their extra-curricular activities and their hobbies - all encouraged by the gushing grandparents....
Even though I am in my 60s, I can think of nothing worse. And I've told my 25-year-old daughter Alice - who is due to marry in November - that in no uncertain terms.
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