Barry and Sharron Thomas’ life got very sweet a decade ago. First, the couple decided to open a pair of ice cream shops in the Roswell area. And then within a matter of months, their first grandson, Taylor, was born.
“I tell everybody about to become grandparents this: There are a lot of special things in life — graduations, weddings. And they make you feel very good. But there is nothing, nothing like seeing your children have children. It is unbelievable. Indescribable,” said Barry Thomas, who along with his wife, owns two Bruster’s Ice Cream stores.
Of course, they spoil their grandchildren — which now include Taylor’s younger sister Kate, who is 8, and another set of grandchildren: 9 year-old Anna and 6-year-old Will. They let ‘em stay up late. They read one more story, and yep — give them extra scoops of ice cream.
But with National Grandparents Day this Sunday, it’s time for kids to make their grandparents feel special. This weekend, from Zoo Atlanta to the American Girl store at North Point Mall in Alpharetta to the Chattahoochee Nature Center and the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center, metro Atlanta will mark this day with special activities.
On Sunday, Barry and Sharron Thomas will serve up ice cream at the Chattahoochee Nature Center’s Grandparents Day celebrations coined “Connecting to Life’s Treasures.” The activities will include wildlife encounters, playing Frisbee in the meadow and “Story Time With Nana Nature.” (Admission to the center on Sunday is free for grandparents; so is the ice cream.)
Grandparents Day was started by Marian McQuade, a West Virginia housewife, who proposed the special day in 1970 as a way of helping lonely elders in nursing homes, providing an opportunity for grandchildren to tap into their experiences. President Jimmy Carter made the first Sunday after Labor Day a national holiday in 1978.
Grandparents have changed a lot over the years. Today’s grandparents are more active and healthier. A 2012 survey by AARP found almost 60 percent of grandparents exercising or playing sports with their grandchildren.
Grandparents are also providing a lot of care for their children. Nearly 1 in 6 grandparents provide day care services for grandchildren when their parents work or are at school. About 1 in every 10 children in the United States live with a grandparent today.
Part of a child’s special time with grandparents often involves learning about family history. The Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center’s Grandparents Day event will be held Saturday at McDaniel Farm in Duluth.
Called “Back When I Was A Kid,” the event will take families back in time as visitors explore the Depression-era farm, stretching 127 acres. Families will get a glimpse into what life looked like at a time when the county was dotted with farms instead of subdivisions and shopping plazas. Visitors will look at tools, including plows, from Gwinnett’s early farming days, and hear about chores such as milking cows, feeding chickens and collecting eggs. They will get to make homemade ice cream and work together on a family scrapbook.
Back at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, the Thomases expect their grandchildren will be on deck to help them serve all of that ice cream.
Taylor, who first visited his grandparents’ ice cream shop in a bassinet, is now 10 and has many years of experience of helping out at the ice cream shop. At 5, Taylor was happily scrubbing the cement floor — as well as playing with empty cardboard boxes. He has since learned how to make waffle cones and serve customers.
“He greets customers, and he tries to upsell — he’ll ask: Would you like nuts and sprinkles?” said Barry Thomas.
Meanwhile, proud grandma Marsha Saum of Roswell also takes great delight in her grandchildren, 7-year-old Brooke and 5-year-old Tyler.
“I have become the kind of grandmother I would make fun of,” Saum said. “I would show pictures and I am the woman people say, ‘Here she comes again with those pictures.’”
She and her grandchildren love spending time at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, taking short hikes, walking on the boardwalk and going to special events such as the Flying Colors Butterfly Festival.
“There is a different kind of love than the love for your children,” Saum said. “There is a freedom to just love them. … You can have fun and not have so many responsibilities. It’s just such a joy.”
Saum isn’t sure if she will see her grandchildren on Grandparents Day since she was with them during the long Labor Day weekend.
But, she said, whenever she’s with her grandchildren, it’s a special day.
