Dennis Prager Show - Are Your Children Depriving You From Seeing Your Grandchildren?
Aired: 2021-07-02
Duration: 04:20


=== Grandchildren Refuse Visits (04:02) ===

[00:00:01]  Dennis.
[00:00:02]  Yes.
[00:00:03]  Oh, thank you for taking my call.
[00:00:05]  I've been a long-time listener.
[00:00:08]  Thank you.
[00:00:09]  First-time caller, so I'm a little nervous.
[00:00:11]  It's okay.
[00:00:11]  It's very normal.
[00:00:14]  I have a son in California with my two grandkids.
[00:00:20]  Both males.
[00:00:23]  They refuse to let me see him.
[00:00:26]  I have another son in Michigan with a granddaughter.
[00:00:30]  Who also refuses to let me see them?
[00:00:33]  I think it's based on, I don't talk politics with them, but he knows my political views.
[00:00:41]  And it could be a collective reasoning through a divorce of some reason or my political views, but they don't return our calls.
[00:00:50]  They don't accept our calls.
[00:00:52]  Who is our?
[00:00:53]  Who is our?
[00:00:56]  Myself and my wife.
[00:00:58]  Are you the parents of these children, the two of you?
[00:01:01]  Are these stepchildren to your wife, or are they children?
[00:01:05]  They're stepchildren to my wife.
[00:01:07]  They're my blood grandchildren.
[00:01:09]  Right.
[00:01:09]  So, you mentioned divorce.
[00:01:14]  Is that a factor in their alienation?
[00:01:17]  I think so.
[00:01:19]  I think the ex-wife has spread rumor.
[00:01:22]  Unrelentless rumors about me and my ex-wife.
[00:01:25]  When did that start?
[00:01:30]  It started about 10 years ago when they were younger.
[00:01:34]  How old were they?
[00:01:35]  I didn't have the opportunity to defend myself.
[00:01:38]  Divorce was a part of infidelity on my ex-wife's part.
[00:01:45]  But anyway, my present wife has nothing to do with my relationship with my grandchildren.
[00:01:51]  And they've just totally cut me off and cut my wife off.
[00:01:57]  What is the reason that they have given?
[00:02:00]  They don't.
[00:02:01]  And that's what's so frustrating.
[00:02:04]  I've reached out to them.
[00:02:06]  I've honored their birthdays.
[00:02:08]  I've honored their Christmas holidays.
[00:02:11]  And I'm their blood grandfather, and I don't get any.
[00:02:16]  And, you know, I listen to you a lot, Dennis, and thank God I do.
[00:02:21]  I know that I'm mother and father.
[00:02:23]  They don't get it.
[00:02:24]  They were raised in a Christian family.
[00:02:26]  They were raised in a good home.
[00:02:27]  And when they became adults and had grandkids, it's like they've lost all semblance of manners, respect.
[00:02:34]  And I just don't get it.
[00:02:36]  I don't get it anymore.
[00:02:37]  Yes, I know.
[00:02:38]  I feel for you.
[00:02:39]  God, I feel for you.
[00:02:44]  I've said that this is this pandemic.
[00:02:48]  Bothers me more than COVID. The pandemic of adult children not speaking to a parent and often not depriving them of any relationship with the grandchildren.
[00:03:07]  You gotta be pretty, pretty mean.
[00:03:13]  Just mean.
[00:03:17]  And the amazing thing is the ability of mean people to think they're wonderful.
[00:03:25]  It is why I remember when the self-esteem movement began, and it was misnamed, and I said it then.
[00:03:37]  It should have been the unearned self-esteem movement.
[00:03:42]  Self-esteem that's earned is fine.
[00:03:46]  And the trivial example of it, but nevertheless an example, is giving trophies to kids for playing.

=== I Almost Sound Eccentric (00:31) ===

[00:03:56]  Participation trophies.
[00:03:58]  Not for winning.
[00:03:59]  for breathing.
[00:04:04]  That's what we have today.
[00:04:10]  He is not alone.
[00:04:13]  You have no idea, folks.
[00:04:15]  I almost sound a little eccentric in this, and I admit it.