A NEW IMAGE FOR GRANDMAS

Today's grandmothers are a new breed altogether, nothing remotely close to the traditional image of how grandmothers should look and conduct themselves.

Hello to the 21st century grandma - attractive, spunky, feisty and fun-loving. Baby boomer grandmas (and grandpas too) are breaking the mold handed down by generations of grandparents who have lived through the WW1-2 era.

Grandma shows off a yoga posture.

As a kid growing up in the 1950s, I used to dread visiting my paternal grandma. She was a stern, forbidding woman who stood no nonsense from anyone, especially her grandchildren. To her, children should be seen and not heard. They were also not to be hugged or kissed.

Grandmas of yesteryears.

But that's probably the way she was brought up by her mother, my great grandmother. And she in turn by her own mother. I can never forget all those black-and-white portraits of elderly ancestors hanging in my grandma's sitting room. Their cold, steely gaze bore down on me no matter where I was standing. To a child, it was a terrifying experience to be left alone in that room.

Thank God, today's baby boomer grandmas have broken free of the oppressive expectations society and culture have placed on them. Why should grandmas be expected to wear only drab, funereal colors? Which rule book dictates that grandmas must look old and behave their age? Who says grandmas (and grandpas) can't go out and have fun?