Taking care of a grandchild as an occupation

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　2024/05/23

Previously, I have written in this blog about how June is taking care of

her 3-year-old grandchild, Kilala.

Her grandchild is cute but it’s a struggle to take care of her because

June is already in her sixties.

Nevertheless, she decided it was important to teach her grandchild

good behaviors for her future life.

Today I will share with you more about a view of taking care of a

grandchild as an occupation from these angles:

              the form of taking care of a grandchild as an occupation,

              the function of the occupation,

              and the meaning of the occupation.

To look at taking care of a grandchild in a big occupational picture,

let’s first imagine June engaging in taking care of her grandchild, Kilala.

Taking care of a grandchild as an occupation

June and her grandchild,

Kilala

Situation:

June is in her sixties and busy with her job, helping her old mother

with her housework and accompanying her to the doctors.

June also takes care of her daughter Satsuki’s daughter, Kilala,

once a week.

Satsuki asks June to take care of Kilala when her nursery is not

available for Satsuki's work shift. Kilala is three years old and quite selfish.

Her parents let her do what she wants to do at home.

June has raised her three adult children.

She has used her own mother’s policy by which she disciplined her children

to help them learn good behaviors for their future. June loves Kilala but

she worries about her selfish behaviors whenever she is taking care of her.

It is the environment’s challenge to June.  

Form of the occupation

June takes care of her grandchild, Kilala, once a week when Satsuki,

June’s daughter and Kilala’s mother, works at night or on a Sunday or holiday.

When Satsuki works at night, June goes to Kilala’s nursery to pick her up

and takes her to stay in her grandmother's home.

She cooks what Kilala wants to eat, watches her while she is playing inside,

and gives her bath.

On Sundays or holidays, June takes care of Kilala from the early morning.

She takes care of Kilala for her meals, playing inside and in the park,

giving a bath.

Kilala is cute but her selfish behaviors and her whining often bothers June.  

To give an example, Kilala wanted to eat ice cream while she is still eating

dinner.

June says that Kilala cannot get ice cream until she finishes her dinner.

Kilala cries for ice cream.

June stresses that Kilala won’t have ice cream if she doesn’t finish her dinner.

Then Kilala suddenly rushes to finish her dinner and get her ice cream

after her dinner.

At another time, when June goes to Kilala’s nursery to pick her up,

Kilala won’t stop whining.

June picks her up, cradles her and tells that if she doesn’t stop crying,

they won’t go home.

Then she patiently waits for Kilala to stop whining.

When Kilala makes an effort to stop whining, then they go home.

Function of the occupation

June is a mother who has raised her three grown children.

She has her own policy about raising children.

She is in her sixties and it is arduous for her to take care of a young child

but she tries to support Kilala to learn good behaviors to live in society

in future.

Kilala needs help to live in her daily life but is not a baby who is

totally dependent.

She should gradually learn how to be independent.

Kilala has her own desires at every moment and cajoles her caretakers to

let her do what she wants to do.

But she doesn’t know how to meet her desires and control her emotions.

She only cries and whines.

It often happens that when a young kid wants to get his desires met,

he doesn’t understand how unreasonable it is.

He cries and whines emotionally.

His caretaker can’t calm him down.

In response, the caretaker gives in to the kid and let him do

what he wants to do.

It happens often in a young child’s daily life-as well as Kilala’s.

However, the child needs to learn how to meet the reality of his world.

June takes care of her granddaughter to help her daughter,

but she worries about her grandchild’s future.

Kilala is three years old.

She is not a baby any more.

June thinks, as a grandmother and an experienced mother of

three adult children, that when Kilala has unreasonable desires,

Kilala needs to learn to stop crying and whining and to realize

what she needs to do.

June tries to calm Kilala down patiently and to support her until

she stops crying and whining and learns good behaviors. 

As an example, when Kilala starts crying and whining for

an unreasonable desire, June never gives in to her.

June immediately shows Kilala the proper way to act.

She supports Kilala to stop crying and to control herself.

She also supports her similarly to learn a good behavior, finishing

her dinner to get ice cream.

Through taking care of Kilala, June helps her realize she is able to

be independent and can have good behavior and control her emotions.

June supports her as she grows to fit into the society in the future.

To support Kilala as she grows, June tries to challenge Kilala’s selfish

behaviors and support her learning acceptable behaviors.

Facing the environment’s challenge, June organizes the situations

and punches the environment for Kilala with her own maternal policy.

Meaning of the occupation

To Kilala, who wants to get things whenever she wants them,

June is a strict grandmother who never lets Kilala to be selfish but

who also cradles her when she needs support.

To June, her grandchild, Kilala is cute but she doesn’t like to be

at the mercy of her granddaughter's selfish desires while taking care of her. 

When Kilala cries and whines for what she wants, June patiently supports

her until she calms down.

She is a trustworthy grandmother to Kilala.

That’s what June wants for her grandchild Kilala.

With strict attitudes, June never gives in to Kilala’s unrealistic desires,

cradles her until she calms down and accepts reality, and June supports

her to learn good behaviors for her future.