I have to constantly remind myself that there is cultural difference between PB’s upbringing and our Chinese upbringing and our values. Today is Tuesday and Grammie didn’t come to the store like she would – probably because she didn’t have a ride to town. And since Chloe didn’t go to Grammie’s on Sunday because of a birthday party and didn’t go the week before because Grammie was busy – that means she didn’t really get to spend any quality time with her grandparents.
In our chinese culture, it’s important to let the grandchildren visit their grandparents and let the kids bond with their grandparents. To me when I had Chloe – I had this beautiful dream of Chloe growing up with loving grandparents and spending lots of time with them – shopping, going around town and doing stuff together. But alas, that did not happened – for the first 6 – 7 yrs of Chloe’s life – she wouldn’t visit her grandparents without us around. Now that she would – her grandparents are very busy themselves – because they have to work and they do have a life of their own too.
Of course, I understand that and had come to terms with the fact that Western grandparents do not expect what the Eastern grandparents would want and expect us to do. But it’s Chloe who doesn’t understand why her Grammie didn’t come visit and even though we explained to her many times – she still feel sad everytime she doesn’t visit for a few hours – or when she doesn’t get to visit her grandparents. I’ve brought Chloe up to be a very loving child – if you’ve met her personally, you would know that she is friendly and loving to just about anyone. She can give a tour of the house to her father’s friend – without the other person asking, so I figured she must feel sad whenever her grammie doesn’t visit when she is supposed to. *sigh*.