Grandparenting with Joy and Grace

What does it mean to take on the role of a grandparent?

In last week’s episode of Good Faith, Nancy French rejoined Curtis to talk about the joys and lessons grandparenting has provided in her own family’s life. From seeing children as a source of creativity to rediscovering a sense of hope and stewardship, this conversation provides encouragement for families to lean into each other, whether they are geographically close together or far apart. Nancy also challenges the idea that older generations should work to leave a tangible legacy for their children, suggesting instead that love, stability, and hope will be the only things that truly will be passed down throughout generations.

This excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.

Nancy French:  I feel like I’m giving my grandchildren a leg-up, and I don’t even have to get them into Harvard or make them bilingual, all I have to do is play with them. It gives you hope because you know that it’s better. I feel like the work of someone who’s my age is to show other people, children, that the hope is more reasonable than the despair. Hope is going to eventually run its course and justice will be served.

We know that God is writing the story of our kids’ lives and our lives and our country’s lives, and so I just have faith that justice is going to happen and love is going to rule. And so just raising these kids with the full knowledge and confidence that the current chaos that we’re seeing is not more real than the hope that we can have.