Grandparent’s day honors the parents of our parents. Many people visits and spend time with their grandparents on this day or send cards to make them feel special and loved. It is an important day not just for grandparents but also for their children or grandchildren because the day is an opportunity to show appreciation for everything they have done and continue to do.

A lot of people honor their grandparents in different ways but for most people they give gifts, card or invite grandma and grandpa to dinner or lunch. In fact, in the United States alone, about 4 million cards are sent each year on Grandparents Day because it is the easiest way to show their appreciation, concerns, and love. By the way, sending greeting cards or ecards is very popular these days and highly recommended when you cannot visit them personally in nursing homes and retirement villages but if you can and have the time to spare, know that it is always best to visit grandparents on National Grandparents Day.

National Grandparents Day

National Grandparents Day is a U.S holiday, but recognized in other countries on various dates. This secular holiday that started in 1978 become part of the U.S holiday ever since because of the significant contribution of grandparents to the family and society.

When is Grandparents Day

In United States, National Grandparents Day is observed on the first Sunday of September, just after the labor day celebration. It is not a public holiday, but observes to honor grandparents.

What Day is Grandparents Day

Grandparent s Day

National Grandparents Day has a lot of proponents. In fact, many believe that the idea of honoring grandparents first came from Michael Goldbar, after visiting his aunt in a nursing home, in Atlanta. He proposed and lobbied to have a day officially recognized as Grandparents Day. He spent $11, 000 of his own money, made 17 trips to the Washington DC to meet legislators and promote the idea of having a day for senior citizens.

The next one to promote Grandparents Day is a homemaker named Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade. The West Virginia homemaker worked to educate people on the importance of senior citizens and their contributions to society. She urged people to honor grandparents for their material giving and experience. After the effort of many people, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the National Grandparents Day in 1978.

The presidential proclamation honoring grandparents were signed into law on September 6, 1979, and the designated day was every first Sunday of September.

Grandparents Day 2013

Grandparents Quotes

“Uncles and aunts, and cousins, are all very well, and fathers and mothers are not to be despised; but a grandmother, at holiday time, is worth them all.” – Fanny Fern

“It is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace.” – Christopher Morley

“A grandfather is someone with silver in his hair and gold in his heart.” – Unknown

“The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy.”  – Sam Levenson

“Grandmothers are just antique little girls.”  – Unknown

“Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.” -Welsh Proverb

“A child needs a grandparent, anybody’s grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world.” – Charles and Ann Morse

“A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the kids instead of the television.” – Unknown

“A married daughter with children puts you in danger of being catalogued as a first edition.” – Unknown

“Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies.” – Unknown

“Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever.” – Unknown

“Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting.” -Unknown

“Grandfathers are just antique little boys.” – Unknown

Grandparents Day Quotes

Grandparents Day Cards

“Becoming a grandmother is wonderful.  One moment you’re just a mother.  The next you are all-wise and prehistoric.“ -Pam Brown

“If God had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.” – Linda Henley

“When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.” – Ogden Nash

“Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete.” – Marcy DeMaree

“Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.” -Lois Wyse

“Being grandparents sufficiently removes us from the responsibilities so that we can be friends.” – Allan Frome

“Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being.” – Margaret Mead

“To become a grandparent is to enjoy one of the few pleasures in life for which the consequences have already been paid. “ – Robert Brault

“It’s such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother – that’s why the world calls her grandmother. “ – Unknown

“Grandchildren are God’s way of compensating us for growing old.” – Mary H. Waldrip

“You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.” – unknown

“A mother becomes a true grandmother the day she stops noticing the terrible things her children do because she is so enchanted with the wonderful things her grandchildren do.” – Lois Wyse

“Every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its grandfathers.” -Lewis Mumford

“A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance.” –  Unknown

“Being pretty on the inside means you don’t hit your brother and you eat all your peas – that’s what my grandma taught me.” – Lord Chesterfield

“I would love to go back and travel the road not taken, if I knew at the end of it I’d find the same set of grandkids.” – Robert Brault,

“I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather – not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.” – Will Shriner

“No cowboy was ever faster on the draw than a grandparent pulling a baby picture out of a wallet.” – Unknown

“A grandmother pretends she doesn’t know who you are on Halloween.” Erma Bombeck

“You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.” – Irish Saying

“My granddaughter came to spend a few weeks with me, and I decided to teach her to sew.  After I had gone through a lengthy explanation of how to thread the machine, she stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and said in disbelief, “You mean you can do all that, but you can’t play my Game Boy?”  – Unknown

“What is it about grandparents that is so lovely?  I’d like to say that grandparents are God’s gifts to children.  And if they can but see, hear and feel what these people have to give, they can mature at a fast rate.” – Bill Cosby

“Soon I will be an old, white-haired lady, into whose lap someone places a baby, saying, “Smile, Grandma!” – I, who myself so recently was photographed on my grandmother’s lap.” – Liv Ullmann

“My grandchild has taught me what true love means.  It means watching Scooby-Doo cartoons while the basketball game is on another channel.” – Gene Perret

“I like to do nice things for my grandchildren – like buy them those toys I’ve always wanted to play with.” – Gene Perret

“Two things I dislike about my granddaughter – when she won’t take her afternoon nap, and when she won’t let me take mine.” – Gene Perret

“Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven’t thought of yet.” – Gene Perret

“I wish I had the energy that my grandchildren have – if only for self-defense.” – Gene Perret

“Grandchildren:  the only people who can get more out of you than the IRS.” Gene Perret

“Just about the time a woman thinks her work is done, she becomes a grandmother.” -Edward H. Dreschnack

“My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, “Gramma, do you know how you and God are alike?”  I mentally polished my halo while I asked, “No, how are we alike?”  “You’re both old,” he replied.” – Unknown

“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.  Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.” – Alex Haley

“Grandmother – a wonderful mother with lots of practice.” – Unknown

“On the seventh day God rested.  His grandchildren must have been out of town.” – Gene Perret

“An hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again.  Anything longer than that, and you start to age quickly.” Gene Perret

“Do you know why grandchildren are always so full of energy?  They suck it out of their grandparents.” – Gene Perret

“My grandkids believe I’m the oldest thing in the world.  And after two or three hours with them, I believe it, too.” – Gene Perret

“Grandchildren don’t stay young forever, which is good because Pop-pops have only so many horsey rides in them.” – Gene Perret

“What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change, and they give me a million dollars’ worth of pleasure.”  – Gene Perret

“What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance.  They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life.  And, most importantly, cookies.” – Rudolph Giuliani

“Something magical happens when parents turns into grandparents. Their attitude changes from “money-doesn’t-grow-on-trees” to spending it like it does.” – Paul Linden

“It’s funny what happens when you become a grandparent. You start to act all goofy and do things you never thought you’d do. It’s terrific.” – Mike Krzyzewski

“Grandparents are the footsteps to the future generations.” – Unknown

“I have a warm feeling after playing with my grandchildren.  It’s the liniment working.” – Unknown

“A grandparent is old on the outside but young on the inside.” – Unknown

“It’s amazing how grandparents seem so young once you become one.” – Unknown

“By the time the youngest children have learned to keep the house tidy, the oldest grandchildren are on hand to tear it to pieces.” – Christopher Morley

“My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses.  Drinks right out of the bottle.” – Henry Youngman

“If becoming a grandmother was only a matter of choice, I should advise every one of you straight away to become one.  There is no fun for old people like it!” – Hannah Whithall Smith

“If nothing is going well, call your grandmother.” – Italian Proverb

“If your baby is “beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time,” you’re the grandma.” – Teresa Bloomingdale

“Varicose veins are the result of an improper selection of grandparents.” – William Osler

“A garden of Love grows in a Grandmother’s heart.” – Unknown

“Her grandmother, as she gets older, is not fading but rather becoming more concentrated.” – Paulette Bates Alden

“One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather.” – Joy Hargrove

“A grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher, and a little bit best friend.” – Unknown

“Most grandmas have a touch of the scallywag.” – Helen Thomson

“The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby’s grandparents.  You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida.” – Dave Barry

“Few things are more delightful than grandchildren fighting over your lap.” Doug Larson

“To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms but absolutely terrified of the word “boo.” – Robert Brault,

“Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple.  Grandmas are short on criticism and long on love.” – Unknown

“The best place to be when you’re sad is Grandpa’s lap.” – Unknown

“Grandchildren don’t make a man feel old; it’s the knowledge that he’s married to a grandmother.” – G. Norman Collie

“The history of our grandparents is remembered not with rose petals but in the laughter and tears of their children and their children’s children.  It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone.  It is in us that their history becomes a future.” – Charles and Ann Morse

“Grandparents are similar to a piece of string – handy to have around and easily wrapped around the fingers of their grandchildren.” – Unknown

“You’re more trouble than the children are” is the greatest compliment a grandparent can receive.” – Gene Perret

“Surely, two of the most satisfying experiences in life must be those of being a grandchild or a grandparent. ” – Donald A. Norberg

“Some of the world’s best educators are grandparents. –Unknown

“A house needs a grandma in it.” – Louisa May Alcott

“We should all have one person who knows how to bless us despite the evidence, Grandmother was that person to me.”- Phyllis Theroux

“It’s one of nature’s way that we often feel closer to distant generations than to the generation immediately preceding us.” -Igor Stravinsky

“Our grandchildren accept us for ourselves, without rebuke or effort to change us, as no one in our entire lives has ever done, not our parents, siblings, spouses, friends – and hardly ever our own grown children.” – Ruth Goode

“When a child is born, so are grandmothers.” – Judith Levy

“Never have children, only grandchildren.” – Gore Vidal

“There’s no place like home except Grandma’s. “ – Unknown

“If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I’d have had them first.” – Lois Wyse

“Grandfathers are for loving and fixing things.” – Unknown

“They say genes skip generations.  Maybe that’s why grandparents find their grandchildren so likeable.” – Joan McIntosh

“Have children while your parents are still young enough to take care of them.” -Rita Rudner

“There are fathers who do not love their children; there is no grandfather who does not adore his grandson.” -Victor Hugo

“Grandparents make the world…a little softer, a little kinder, a little warmer.” ` Unknown

“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty.  She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the hell she is.” – Ellen DeGeneres

“I loved their home. Everything smelled older, worn but safe; the food aroma had baked itself into the furniture. “ – Susan Strasberg

“Elephants and grandchildren never forget.” – Andy Rooney

“A grandma’s name is little less in love than is the doting title of a mother.” – William Shakespeare

“I don’t intentionally spoil my grandkids.  It’s just that correcting them often takes more energy than I have left.” – Gene Perret

“Posterity is the patriotic name for grandchildren.” – Art Linkletter

Grandparents Day Poems

Grandparents Day eCard