7
- W I N T E R
To Grandma
CHRIS ROGERS,
with Arianwen (18 months)
Arianwen Jones has a smile that lights up
a room and the cutest chubby cheeks. The
littlest things delight her, like bouncing
down the stairs in her grandma’s arms and
playing with the leaves in the garden.
The beautiful 18-month-old recently
spent three weeks in Muswellbrook with
her grandparents John and Chris Rogers.
The days were filled with fun and play,
something Chris says makes being ‘grandma’
such a joy.
“I think it’s about having time and no
pressure,” Chris says. “As a grandmother I’ve
lost all my inhibitions about being silly and
having fun. I think I have the time to love
unconditionally, laugh constantly and to
really look her in the eye.
“As a parent you are so busy trying to
do everything right and it’s all brand new,
you really have your L plates on. As a
grandparent you have experience and you’re
not afraid of making a mistake.”
Chris thinks being a mother today is
different to when she was raising her two
girls, but says it’s hard to pinpoint what
has changed. “I think more of the current
generation is working, and there is that
pressure to go back to work and to have
children in childcare and there is a flow-
on effect,” she says. “Life becomes more
hurried, there’s more rush. And certainly it
has changed from my mothers’ day, because
that generation had no pressure to work.”
Arianwen is the couple’s first grandchild
and her arrival has brought mother and
daughter closer. Chris says the day she was
born was ‘totally emotional’. “Renee was
in labour and she was having a caesarean
and we were in Bondi just whiling away the
time,” Chris recalls. “When the call came
through I remember being in a restaurant
and everyone was congratulating us – they
were complete strangers – and they were
bringing out the champagne and asking if
it was a boy or girl, and we were just the
grandparents! It’s was such a celebration.”
“Things have changed. It’s like when you
became a mother you joined a club because
you had been through the experience of
giving birth, and now your daughter has
joined the club too and you’re much more
on the same page,” Chris says. “Suddenly
you can empathise with them and they
become a lot more willing to ask questions.”
And is it grandma’s job to spoil the
grandchildren?
“You can get away with more,” Chris
says with a grin. “When you’re older you
tend to be more financially secure. You can
buy them something and it won’t affect the
mortgage payment, or the car payment or
the weekly budget.”
She also believes most of today’s
grandmothers are fitter and healthier,
allowing them to play a more active role
in their grandchildren’s lives and be more
hands on.
Although not much has been forgotten
from her own days raising little ones,
Chris laughs about some of the things
modern parents have access to. “I need a
parking lot for the more sophisticated and
cumbersome toys,” she laughs. “There are
dummies that glow in the dark and the new
disposable nappies are wonderful – they’re
so absorbent!
“The only packaged baby food available
in my day was in little glass jars, but now
there are the squeezie pouches. But I will say
I was glad to see that Jemima, the windows
and the clock are still on Play School.”
Above everything else, Chris says she and
John want to have a wonderful bond with
their granddaughter, who lives in Brisbane
with her parents Huw and Renee. “It’s a
long way, but it’s not impossible,” Chris
says. “I am very big on traditions and if
there is something she does here that she
enjoys, I’ll make sure she can have that
experience again. I want to make things for
her that are unique to being here and she
will look forward to them.”
Chris Rogers’ granddaughter Arianwen loves playing with
the autumn leaves in her grandparents gorgeous garden.
