Olga Hollingshead raised her three children, ensuring they found their place in the world. With grown children, most mothers would be relaxing, breathing a sigh of relief, and kicking back to enjoy the new found freedom. Not Hollingshead!
She took on the task of mothering her three grandchildren, including a set of twins. She went back to the days of preparing meals, seeing them off to school, and dealing with all the headaches that came with raising teenagers.
Hollingshead said she was motivated to take them under her wings when they migrated to the United States to be with their father (her son).
“They were attending basic school in Jamaica before migration. In the United States, they were placed in kindergarten, and I didn’t know anything about after-school care, so I took early retirement. The oldest was six years old, and the twins were five years old,” she recalled.
Over the years, she remained involved in their lives and the school they attended by registering and volunteering. She did afternoon tutoring with children struggling with their schoolwork, thereby impacting other children as well.
With a laugh, she shared that she was so involved in their lives
that their schoolmates also ‘adopted’ her as their grandma and would make their demands for some of the culinary treats she sent her grandchildren to school with.
“I loved them all; I had no issues being their grandmother, I see them as an extension of my own,” she highlighted.
So involved was she in her grandchildren’s school life that she herself got the itch to get back in the classroom too. During their final year of high school, she went back to Miami Dade College to complete her Associates Degree in Hospitality Administration, Travel, and Tourism.
Hollingshead has survived! Her grandchildren are now in college, and with a laugh, she shared with Freedom Come Rain that it is now her time.
Relaxing in Jamaica, where she came to take a break from her son’s home in Texas, Hollingshead said she has no regrets and she actually feels fulfilled.
Sharing about being a mother and mothering itself, she said it is something special as she gets to influence lives.
“Look at what is happening in society today. I am so glad I passed on the values that my own parents passed on to me,” said Hollingshead, who hails from Egypt Pen, Belfield, in the parish of St. Mary.
She said that growing up, her parents were strict, and church was a part of her life. She will always be thankful for that, as it moulded her and gave her a firm foundation.
When she had children of her own, she already had the blueprint to take on that challenge, and even when she had to deal with the younger generation—her grandchildren—she was prepared for them and was not going to give in to their ‘foolishness’.
“I am a strong Jamaican mother; they got that kind of upbringing, I was not going to ‘powder’ them and allow them to draw hoops around me. They must know that I mean what I say and be prepared to obey,” were his resolute words
Riding on her success, she feels confident enough to impart advice to mothers who may be feeling a little overwhelmed. “The best things about being a mother are giving them unconditional love, giving your children psychological support and empathy, teaching them moral values, and mediating how they interact with their siblings and friends,” she asserted.
Although no child wants to hear the word ‘no’, she said parents should never be afraid to say it, and ‘yes’ should never be the answer to everything.
“You don’t want to give them a feeling of entitlement that so many children today have; it’s often easier to say “no” or “maybe.”