Whether they are still present or have unfortunately already left, great-grandparents can hold a special place in the hearts of children. Witnesses to the history of the family, they arouse the curiosity of the youngest, sometimes to the point of fascination.

Each of us is descended from 8 great-grandparents, or 4 couples, parents of our 4 grandparents. Few people have the chance to really know their 8 grandparents during their lifetime. Indeed, it is estimated that a generation lasts about 25 years.

In short, only children from families in which the mothers had children early can hope to know their ancestors or even be around them for several years. These meetings, when they allow real exchanges, often create lasting memories and strong links with family history.

If the very young child is fortunate enough to know one of his great-grandparents, he often has a rather blurry image because it often happens that the ancestors die before he reaches the age to remember. Not yet mature enough to understand the weight of its history and sometimes not very enthusiastic about spending time with a very old person, toddlers generally do not benefit from this privileged contact. Most of the time, it is when he becomes an adult that he is interested in his genealogy, and therefore, in the personality of his ancestors.

A child who can spend time with his great-grandparents, beyond infancy, usually keeps fond memories. Anxious to transmit, the great-grandfather or the great-grandmother generally engages in a multitude of confessions. He / She is able to provide sound advice but also to give his / her opinion on values ​​which seem fundamental to him / her. Whether appreciated or not, this advice can have an influence on the behavior of the child during his intellectual maturity.

Those who feel great affection for their grandparents will tend to be interested in their great-grandparents. When grandparents talk about their childhood, they are referring to their parents, which can arouse the curiosity of the child or adolescent. In addition, a good number of great-grandparents went through difficult times (war, emigration, poverty, etc.); knowing their history can allow some to put their own situation into perspective and to better understand the personality of their grandparents.

While children born before and around the 1980s generally had great-grandparents born at the turn of the last century, the new generation rubs shoulders with personalities born around the 1930s and 1940s. All these generations have been heavily marked by history: first and second world war, baby-boom, major advances in politics then digital revolution … A huge gap is widening between these generations who, coming from the same family, succeed however to understand and get along. Until a few years ago, we had little or no documents concerning our great-grandparents. Sometimes even no snapshot had been taken or kept.

Today’s generation can rely on new technologies and more and more documents are shared between great-grandparents and great-grandchildren.

In a few years, the French great-grandparents will be the baby boomers, the latter are the first generation not to have known war and to have lived through good times. The child-great-grandparent relationship will then certainly not have the same reserve or the same modesty. Soon, great-grandparents will be connected people, able to leave video messages for their offspring and ready to share more thanks to the increase inlife expectancy.

It is undoubtedly much easier to know its origins today than in the past. Those wishing to obtain information on their great-grandparents can carry out research in the municipal archives and on the Internet. Social networks are great tools for locating distant relatives or cousins, even when history has geographically separated families. This is how many children in search of information on their great-grandparents find old photos or learn anecdotes thanks to the Internet.

Oral communication is also an excellent source of information: asking your grandparents about your great-grandparents offers the possibility of collecting living testimonies, rich in spontaneous and sometimes atypical information (unlike birth certificates and other cold administrative documents. and devoid of anecdotes).

Often mysterious, sometimes admired, great-grandparents are a solid foundation that constitutes an important part of everyone’s history. Whatever relationship one has with them, they reflect the evolution of the family and remain very close people, while remaining very distant.