About 300 grannies pulled up their rocking chairs in a small Finnish town square on Wednesday to tell stories to small children in a bid to bring the generations together, organisers said.
They came from across Finland — and five of them even travelled from as far away as Spain — to take part in the hour-long event in Haemeenlinna, 100km north of Helsinki, as part of the town’s International Children’s Festival.
Bringing her own rocking chair and a footstool so each child had a place to sit, each granny span a 10-minute tale of her choice before the youngsters swapped places to hear from another storyteller.
Tuula Stolt from the west coast town of Kristiinankaupunki told Finnish media on Tuesday that she would talk about the sea, pets and why one jumps down from a bicycle saddle on the left side and not the right.
“That has to do with soldiers and where they carried their swords,” she said.
The grannies ranged from youthful 47-year-old motorcycling redheads to unsteady 87-year-old silver-haired ladies.
After they finished rocking on the market place, they moved into the virtual world, meeting at the city hall where the “granny-net” was inaugurated.
The site enables children and grandparents to stay in touch, and, for kids who do not have one, to find themselves a grandparent.
“I will be using this service myself because my own grandson lives in Paris,” festival director Kristiina Hurmerinta said.
“Families nowadays are living often far apart. This brings the generations together again and lets the … culture flow … continue into the future,” Hurmerinta said.
“Children need adults as talking and playing companions, storytellers and listeners. And the seniors — even the ones without grandchildren of their own — want to have contact with the younger generations,” she said. — AFP