It’s official. The Sola household has taken the plunge and adopted a Grandpa.
Technically, Shawn is the one who is volunteering at the local nursing home by adopting a grandparent, but when you’re 10, Mom (and Dad) takes part, too.
During the summer, I was watching a bunch of movies I recorded. One had to do with a brother and sister that snuck into the nursing home to read to residents for cash. The nursing home staff soon caught on to what was going on, but the kids begged and pleaded to let them finish the stories they had started. Eventually, the staff agreed.
As I watched the movie, I was struck how something so simple benefited both the child and the resident. The boy’s reading improved, the girl was reading to a blind woman who didn’t know the story being read was written by the girl. Both kids not only experienced a growth of confidence in themselves, but the residents shared words of wisdom and guidance with each child.
I told Shawn about the movie and asked him if he’d like to see if our nursing home had any similar programs. With any new thing, he shrugged his shoulders, but soon I was calling and talking to the activity director at Southwest Health Care Long Term Care. Sure enough, she said they had an Adopt-A-Grandparent program.
Shawn took the term “adopt” very literally when we first discussed it and didn’t feel he could be responsible for a grandparent. Once he realized we were not literally adopting but just visiting someone consistently, he warmed up to the idea. I mean, when your own grandparents live over five hours away, wouldn’t it be fun to have someone in town to visit with?
After filling out an application (which included two references), the activities director matched Shawn up with a resident. Before he could start, he had about an hour-long orientation covering the dos and don’ts of volunteering and learned a few things about his Grandpa-to-be. At the end of orientation, Shawn met the person whom he would visit every week.
Now Shawn has a couple of visits under his belt. His greatest challenge is talking loud enough for residents to hear him, but I’m confident that will improve with time. My son has always been comfortable around adults and to see him interact with the residents makes this Momma pretty proud.
With each visit, we are getting to know our new friend better. We’ve had fun bringing him a few surprises, talking with him, having a snack together and we even bowled! The activity aides are super great helping us as we settle in and learn the ropes.
Here’s what I learned in a few short weeks: 1) When you adopt a grandparent, it’s just not one person you are affecting. As we sit with our Grandpa in the Activity Room, the whole room is interested and many want to talk to us, too; 2) The gesture doesn’t have to be huge. Just taking a little bit of time out of your day can make a big difference to someone else; and 3) We seem to get back more than we give.
Even though we don’t know our new Grandpa very well, he’s already become part of our family. We talk about our upcoming visit, we rehash our previous visit, we include him in our thoughts and prayers, and we genuinely care for him.
If this sounds like something your son or daughter would enjoy, I encourage you to call the home and talk to the activity director. Your lives will be richer and so will theirs.
