Floor Lessons From My Granddaughter, Part 2

I recently took another look at my TedX talk from ten years ago where I introduced the audience to the Sit-Rise Test. I realized that with our granddaughter now walking and running everywhere, I get to perform that test many times an hour when she visits us throughout the week.

She is getting so fast, she can get herself into trouble really quickly. Whether it's too close to the stairs, the kitchen where cooking is going on, or any number of tippy, pokey, or delicate items that are growing within her reach faster than we can let go of or store. We find ourselves running behind her often. We can be sitting on the floor reading a book or building with blocks one moment and the next she’s up and scooting across the room. 

It’s at these moments I’m so glad I started working on my mobility years ago. I may not score a ten on the rise part of the test when I need to hop up and run interference for a potted plant, but I can get up quickly enough to be just a couple of steps behind her. 

In previous generations when folks became parents and grandparents sooner in life, the issue of keeping up with a toddler probably wasn’t a common concern for a granddad. But, beginning with my generation, with folks starting to have kids later and later in life, and then those kids bringing grandkids into the world later in life as well, the sandwich generation finds itself straddling a much larger age gap between the grandparent and grandchild. Parents can no longer expect the same mobility from their own parents once they are finally with child.

I remember when our girls were little, I was in my early thirties lamenting that I didn’t have the stamina of my younger years, but also being glad I was older and wiser. I wondered about where that sweet spot would be, the one where we’re wise and mature enough to parent well, while also having enough youthful vigor to pull it off. Sleep deprivation certainly took a toll on my access to calm wisdom.

It’s another symptom of our modern inequality, where many of us are not raising children in multigenerational homes. The wisdom and support of a close extended family, (close emotionally as well as location) can make younger parenting a viable option.

Since there was enough pathology, misogyny, and unpaid labor woven into the era before and during the heyday of the American nuclear family mythology, I’m in no hurry to return. In this period of history, we are more likely to find ourselves being surrogate grandparents and extended family to friends and other loved ones (related or not). 

So keep working on your mobility, your squats, and your sit rise test no matter your age or familial situation. You never know when you’ll be called to the floor by your desire to help out or simply enjoy the perspective from the floor with the young ones still savoring their healthy hips.