Seniors: New Parents Welcome Help

As a father, I found Linda Feldman’s “For Seniors” column (“Grandma’ Puts Things Into Perspective,” March 27) very sad. While I admire her contentment and her compliance with her daughter’s wish that she stay away for two weeks after the birth of her first grandchild, why would this be the desire? How sad that young men tell her, “The worst thing was having my mother-in-law with us. . . .”

I was very happy to have my mother-in-law, Anne Rubin, stay with us and help after each of our children was born. She did not rush in and take over; she offered assistance where needed and wanted. She shares her views but never makes unreasonable demands or engages in excessive criticism. Generally, she helped take care of the new mother, while we took care of the baby and made arrangements for the Bris with more than 80 guests. Certainly, I never felt like “an alien in my own home.” My mother-in-law was and remains welcome in our home.

How sad that some new parents have to exclude the new grandparents for weeks at a time! I am very glad that my children had the opportunity to start building a relationship with their grandparents from Day One, when I invited their grandmother to wheel Rachel and the baby out of the hospital, and she did.

NORMAN H. GREEN

Los Angeles