The advice of Marcel Rofo

Marcel Rofo’s point of view, child psychiatrist

Very often, in adolescence, the grandchildren turn away from the grandparents with whom links had been forged from an early age. It is not uncommon for them to come back to them later with a good heart. Your situation, Simone, is however made more painful because their mother and uncle do not make the bridge between your granddaughters and you. Your family has disunited itself and this particularly affects you. In your place, I would try to make your daughter and her brother react by reminding them that at 81 years old, you aspire to enjoy the company of each other and in particular your family. But I would not use this a little guilty tone towards your granddaughters.

To them, as in the whole family, I advise you to send a general message in which you would talk about the past that you have in sharing and the childhood of your grandchildren that you kept very early. In fact, you have memories of your granddaughters that they ignore because they were too young. They no doubt want to hear them. I form the wish that by trying to restore this transmission, you increase your chances of reconnecting the link with the whole family.