by Edward Malone

Created on: May 17, 2008

At age 30, I became a grandfather. My youngest daughter at that time, gave birth to a girl. I was divorced and my ex-wife had custody of our two daughters. The girls were the only children from that marriage. When I was married, I did not in my wildest dreams thought I would be a grandfather at such a young age. I was in a state of shock initially because my youngest daughter was 13 years old. Her sister was 15 years old, who had a baby boy at that age. I had another daughter as a result of an affair while I was married. She also had a baby girl at 17.

My daughters were very kind about me having contact with my grandchildren. In fact they insisted that I visited them as often as I could. Today, those visits have resulted in close relationships with them and my daughters.
This generation of my grandchildren changed the dynamics of our family structure. My mother and grandmother had children after age 20. My daughters changed that concept. My second oldest daughter (the one from the aforementioned affair) oldest daughter will be a mother in three months, and she is only 17. As one can see there is a pattern in this life cycle. I should also mention that all of my daughters were not married at the time of having these babies. Two have married but are now divorced. I am now the dominant male in all of my children and grand children's lives. At age 57, and the grandfather to 17 grands, I feel like a king.

In 2003, when I retired, my oldest daughter asked me to assist her in caring for her newborn baby boy. After using her maternity leave, she went back to work. I had planned to do some traveling but I could not say no to her. So I became her baby sitter for the baby as well as her other three children. I was the jack of all trades; cook, bus driver, teacher etc. But I did not mind at all, besides I wasn't married and had all the time in the world.

Interacting with my grandchildren keep me on my "toes" and my mind young. I try to motivate and inspire them as they grow older. There are 10 grandsons and 7 granddaughters. Three of the boys have developed juvenile problems but the girls are doing just fine. I am working to get the boys back on the right track. As the saying goes, "it takes a village to raise a child" but in reality it starts with the parents with a big dose of understanding, work and love from the grandparents.

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