Where Are My Friends When I Need Them?

The following blog is by Mark Morris.

In a world in which grandparents raise their grandchildren, a harsh reality that the grandparents face is social isolation.

It seems that they are torn between giving the children in their home the attention they need , such as teaching them every day things like how to play catch with a baseball or ride a bike.

Grandparents realize they are the ones who will be to teaching their grandchildren the life skills they are going to need to be successful adults.

My dad would often tell me to pay attention to how he did things because I would not always have him there to show me.

This is a truth, all children being raised by their grandparents have to accept.

Once social difficulty we faced was for the first two years our grandchildren were in the foster care system.

Getting permission to travel out of state to visit relatives, or go to a General Conference could be a lengthy process.

We couldn’t just leave them with someone for a weekend without approval from the state.

We found ourselves just staying home rather than going through the hassle.

Also, one of most difficult social realizations my wife and I encountered was realizing people our age did not want children around and people with children did not want older parents around.

This one often put us in a rough spot. So we found ourselves once again staying home or going places with just the children.

My wife and I became painfully aware  of the many social functions in which children are not included.

Have any of you faced this problem?

Please share your experiences with us. Perhaps you can bless someone else who is going through the same situation.