SEAN O’ROURKE
Broadcaster & journalist
How different was it becoming a grandfather, compared to becoming a father?
Becoming a grandfather is a lot different to becoming a dad. It’s more fun because there’s none of the same responsibility involved. Life with grandchildren is mostly about play, praise and enjoyment. There’s very little of the messy stuff like feeding and changing, except for the odd time we’d mind them for a few hours or overnight. The first time I held a grandchild was when my granddaughter Saoirse was born in San Jose in October 2021. We were lucky to get to see her as lockdown restrictions were still operating. We got permission to travel on the grounds of offering to help with the newborn baby. To our delight, Saoirse’s mum Aisling and her husband Dan moved back to Ireland when she was one. They live a 10-minute drive away and now she has a little sister, Eleanor.
What is the biggest lesson you have learnt as a grandparent?
Compared to when our kids were small, my wife Caroline and I can enjoy our grandkids in slow motion. There’s no rushing to get things done, or to get them to bed, or to get to work. We appreciate their first few words, their beautiful innocence and their chuckles. The important things in our house now are how my grandson Fionn takes his first steps at 15 months, Saoirse’s joy in the paddling pool at two-and-a-half, or when nine-monthold Eleanor rolls over and pushes herself up.
Did welcoming grandchildren change how you saw your own children?
Our daughters Maeve and Aisling are a lot more patient as parents. They talk to them all the time and go to endless trouble to explain what they want the kids to do, even though they are all under three years old. I’m impressed by how they insist on having a bedtime routine, and the parents usually get their way. They are happy to cajole and encourage, but they don’t take nonsense. Something else I’ve noticed is how safety conscious modern parents are, compared to our own time, when people were more relaxed about putting kids in cars. It wasn’t unusual for an adult to sit in the back seat holding a child in their arms – not anymore! It reminds me of the advice given many years ago by a Garda road safety officer who told me on a radio show that child passengers should be treated like bone china, properly secured.
What moment in your grandchildren’s lives are you most looking forward to?
I look forward to having conversations with them in the future. Telling them little stories about how wonderful their parents were as children. No doubt they will all take up tennis, the sport passed down from their granny. I think it’s important to let our daughters and their husbands raise their children as they see fit. We’ll be happy to offer advice if we’re asked. The main thing is to always encourage and support. We weren’t perfect parents and our daughters’ memory of that should help them to relax a bit when things don’t always go to plan with their own children.