Level Three. Checks.
By Michelle Lloyd.
New One had long been a checker. What did that mean? He liked to check to know if everything and everyone around him was all right. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.
Lately Grandma had been a worry and not to anyone else apart from New One. He worried if she was getting up all right, eating enough or going to bed on time. It had all begun when his parents had been up late talking about how frail and forgetful grandma had been lately. New One was appalled that he could not check on grandma more often given the discussion that his parents had been having.
New One set about making it his task to look after grandma and so he tried to see her as often as he could. Dive bombing video calls and butting into chats on the phone New One became an eager beaver for checking on grandma whenever and wherever he could do.
Mum and dad soon started to notice that something was wrong with New One’s behaviour and they became even more concerned when they received a call from the parents of one of his friends. Apparently New One had asked them to detour on their usual trip out and go to check on grandma instead.
New One had to be sat down by his parents and explained to that grandma was not in trouble. There was no need for him to worry on his own because they would all look after her, as a family. Grandma had to cuddle him and while at first New One thought this was a positive response from his positive grandparent, it soon turned out that this was the beginning of a talk.
Grandma explained to New One that as one grew older they could become quite independent and actually become quite used to looking after themselves. She was someone who did like to be by herself sometimes and she told him that she could get in touch with people whenever she needed.
Grandma thanked New One for being so thoughtful about her and assured him that part of being a grandparent was being able to have a visit time and time for herself whenever she liked. Having given New One an assurance that she would let him know if ever she was in need, he in turn, gave her an assurance that he would keep all the checks in check.