There's been some follow up to a story I posted about last month on eighty-something grandparents losing custody of their grandson to foster care.

The grandparents, Morris (88) and Mildred (85) Brasovankin, are fighting to bring their hyperactive grandson home, and the question they are facing from all quarters is, of course: How old is too old?

Although this report pits biology against youth, it seems more an issue of stability versus uprooting, since the child has been with his grandparents from infancy. Some could argue that the boy is destined to experience change eventually, but whether or not that should precipitate a complete change in environment now is debatable.

"We encourage them to have the courage to say, 'No, this isn't something I can do,' and maybe they can be involved on some other level. But if a relative caregiver is willing to take it on, we think that is the best situation for the child," said Maggie Biscarr of AARP.

Sticking with the generation that birthed the Boomers, this first-person account out of Dallas is a stereotype-busting piece that insists that the only things separating one generation from the next are personal tastes and preferences, and that all of every age are torchbearers.

Living through WWII and all that period entailed ... fathers going off to war; then returning, rationing, huge changes to the social structure and attempts to make things all normal again afterwards ... their childhoods shaped the adults they would become, the parents they would be, as all do.

Our parents bequeathed to us their strength and perseverance, which we passed on to our younger siblings. They, in turn, will pass that on, along with their personal traits of being movers and shakers. Generation X will add to that list and lead those who follow them into a world of technology and inventiveness. The sum of all those traits will be passed on and added to.

Noting what has been passed from one generation to the next not only comforts the older generation by giving faith something to hang its hat on with the up-and-comers, but also pays homage to the lasting lessons and those who taught them.

Just as we Boomers owe a lot of who we are to that generation that scrimped through the Great Depression and won the war, the X-ers and Next-ers must acknowledge our contributions to what makes them them.

Whether or not the author of the above thoughts would take on the raising of a child, we can't know, but his hopeful outlook and thoughtful appreciation of his own history can help us all understand a bit better how we all fit into the big picture. That's of value when we're looking at our kids and wondering how to do it right.

Not only should we value ourselves and our experience, we need to trust those coming up behind us and their ability to help the world be the sort of place we want for our children. Trusting that our kids will keep it all going helps, too.