A Grandson Turns One and we compare Life changes

Grandad & Aidan on his birthday

I recently had the pleasure of attending my youngest Grandsons 1st birthday and what a joyous occasion it was too! He lives in Auckland so I don't get to see him as often as I would like, but regular emails and phone calls to his Mother keep me posted on what is happening in their household. His brother Ronan who is approaching the age of 4 has suddenly made huge gains in both speech and reading ability and these two lively youngsters no doubt  promise many years of family escapades within the family unit.

It was intriguing watching his reaction to the other children who gathered for his birthday and although he was reticent at first, he soon started interacting with them, especially when it became time to open presents. He sure let everyone know that HE was going to open HIS gifts and although brother Ronan was allowed to open some of the birthday card envelopes, it became a tug-of-war with the gift wrapped collection. I guess at least with two boys in the family, they will be able to share many items in the future without too much difficulty, unlike families with girls who prefer dolls to trucks!

Ronan helping with the presents

It made me think of my own family, where we had 4 boys and one sister (although we always thought of my Sister as an honorary brother, especially when we needed a guinea pig to test any new invention we made) My older brother Dennis and I were a team until he left home as a young teenager to go farming, my Sister Carna and I were very close in age, so we got along well and my two younger Brothers Bruce and Roger (our baby) became another team. A major influence on our lives was the fact that our extended family lived close by and we spent many joyous moments with Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts and I feel sorry for the changes that have occurred over the past decades where families live in other locations far apart from each other.

On the drive back home I kept thinking about the changes in our society over the years and wondered to myself what sort of a world young Aidan would find on his 21st birthday. (I invited all those at the birthday party to attend his 21st and promised I would do my best to be there as well!) Whenever I start talking about my own childhood, I am contstantly reminded by my audience that we just couldn't compare what happened in the 40s and 50s with today's challenges and that we have improved beyond belief as far as health issues go.

Aidan's Elmo Cake

When I started school. NZ had just come out of a very costly war and rationing of certain goods was still in force until the early 50s. We also had Import controls and because the population was still small in numbers, the prospect of getting a job was a lot easier, especially as the country prospered on the back of our farming exports. NZ lead the world in childcare (unlike the shameful statistics of today) and the Plunket Society featured in every corner of the country, including difficult to reach rural communities. I remember when we had an epidemic of polio in 1947 just before I started school and some children became afflicted with this cursed disease until the Salk vaccination regime was made available in about 1956. I believe schools throughout NZ were closed for 4 months at the height of the epidemic. Measles was quite rampant too at one stage and I remember some new migrants from England who lived in our street becoming infected soon after arrival and my Mother took charge of looking after them. Some of my school friends were sent to a Health camp at Pakuranga during school holidays.

That cake tastes great!

Thank goodness many of the childhood diseases are mostly under control, although we read in recent news of whooping cough and other old style diseases reappearing and  I have been reliably informed that if we can get our immunisation rate a lot higher, it will make a difference. So it would appear that although things were vastly different way back then, we still can't assume that today's world is far superior. It just isn't so!

Like my Father before me, I probably cannot conceive how different the world will be in two decades time when Aidan turns 21, I just hope that the world has learnt a few more lessons by then. I certainly hope so!