Jimmy Fallon #mygrandmaiscool

Last night on the train home I read a tweet from Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Jimmy regularly plays the hashtag game on Twitter, where he asks his 4.9 million followers to share something funny and for everyone to use the same hashtag when they tweet it (If you aren't familiar with Twitter and hashtags read here). There is a chance that he will share the best tweets on his show.  (Full disclosure - I love Jimmy Fallon and find him and his show to be very funny.) 

Last night's game was #mygrandmaiscool (my grandma is cool). Being who I am and working where I do, I was thrilled.  My grandmas ARE cool and I know so many grandmas who are raising their grandchildren, volunteering with young people, advocating on behalf of children, and doing much more, who ARE VERY cool. But  I was also a little dissappointed when I saw Jimmy wanted people to share funny or weird stories about their grandmas. It was the weird that bothered me.

Jimmy shared the following positive and funny tweet about his grandma.  Good for Jimmy, his grandma sounds like she's a lot of fun. 

jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) 2/15/12 5:52 PM My grandma made hot cocoa for all my friends after sledding, and then moonwalked. #mygrandmaiscool

I was so excited to see what folks would say.  I read through hundreds of tweets last night about people's grandmas. There were some that were heartfelt, touching, and inspirational but many, many, many more were immature, offensive, and downright ageist.  I was not so excited anymore. I know, it is the Internet, what was I to expect.

I did expect more from Jimmy (have I mentioned I absolutely love him). So on behalf of Generations United, I sent a tweet to Jimmy and asked him why he needed to make Grandmas the butt of the joke? Why couldn't he just celebrate the funny and fantastic things our Grandmas do for us?  I don't expect a response, but I felt better saying it.

Everyone at Generations United knows that grandmas are cool. We see it everyday and in so many different ways. And if you are reading this blog, you probably think so too.  Would you take a minute and share the remarkable, wonderful, fantastic, and funny things your grandmas do?  And if you happen to be on Twitter, could you tweet it and tag it #mygrandmaiscool?