I Confess: I Have an Addiction

Friends, I am concerned. I may be developing an addiction. I need support from all of you. It has been diagnosed as a Lil Man addiction. I searched for a definition for addiction and from the Encarta Dictionary: “An addiction can be devotion, great interest in a particular thing to which a lot of time is devoted.” There you have it folks, it is official – I have a Lil Man Addiction.

Next, I went off seeking a 10 step program to help me with my newly diagnosed addiction. I needed answers as to what I should do about this addiction. It appears that Grandparentitis (medical term for the Lil Man Addiction) is treated and addressed a bit differently from other addictions. This 5 step program includes:

--Begin exercises in increasing devotion to the grandchild. Most grandparents and grandchildren only benefit from this type of mutual devotion.

--Be prepared that this great interest in the grandchild only will increase with time. Know that time will become meaningless during this addiction – it won’t matter if the grandparent does without food, sleep, or employment because each and every moment will be replete with spending time with the grandchild or thinking about spending time with the grandchild.

--Spoiling the child as a sufferer of Grandparentitis is virtually impossible. All grandchildren who have been spoiled by grandparents have developed into normal, intelligent, and exceptional individuals.

--Sleep may be interrupted by this addiction. Grandparents may find themselves requiring less sleep than thought to be normal so that they can do online shopping at night for the grandchild, craft scrapbooks for the grandchild, or rush to 24 hour photo labs to print the latest photos.

--Grandparents with this addiction can be easily recognized -- they are swarming the aisles of Babies R Us purchasing everything and anything that says GRANDMA or GRANDPA. Another easily recognizable trait is the new clothing worn by the grandparents that say slogans such as: "PROUD GRAMMY" or "GRANDPA AND PROUD OF IT"! Addicts need help to avoid over purchasing such gimmicky items.


Disclaimer: In no way do I want readers to perceive that I am minimizing the seriousness of addictions. I know many families and individuals are destroyed by actual addictions. This post was written strictly from a grandmother’s heart full of love and affection for her grandchild.