Recently I heard Bill Bennett say that Raisa Gorbachev's doctoral dissertation on communal farming in the Soviet Union proposed that the only way the State could get their philosophies inculcated and thus breakdown a family farming culture into a state-owned culture, was to remove the influence of grandparents from the lives of the grandchildren and thus remove the transmission of values to future generations.
It made me realize how important it is for grandparents to intentionally have input into the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Our family lives 4 generations in one house-- intentionally. Sometimes people look at us like we are weird, or at least counter-cultural, so, for the foreseeable future, we are going to try to blog weekly about living multi-generationally. We know it's not for everyone, but we are learning some things that may be helpful to some.
The transmission of family values and godly values takes place both intentionally and also serendipitously. The dinner table is one of those places where values are transmitted. Intentionally we try to ask, "What was the best part of your day?" Serendipitously the great-grandchildren learn about a God who is real and very dear when my father-in-law prays for the meal.
This didn't happen overnight, it began almost 40 years ago when my wife, Jan, and I made a decision to stay, if God allowed, within 2 hours driving distance of both sets of grandparents because they were godly and good. We wanted that influence in their lives. For 38 years they have blessed our children's lives, and now our children have made the decision to stay close by. A value was transmitted and now goes on.
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