National Grandparents Day

Teachers: Visit the free MY HERO Lesson Plan for National Grandparents Day for this film program. Includes discussion guide and learning outcomes.

Call to Action

To celebrate, do something nice for your own grandparents: adopt a grandparent or visit a nursing home.

National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade (1917-2008), a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia.

Film

Enjoy this selection of short films that feature the heroes we all admire: grandparents. Each short reflects on a variety of relationships that reach beyond the stars and throughout generations of time.

The Kite

By: Martin Smatana

An enchanting tale about remembering those who are no longer with us.

Hania and Jacek

Roch Karwowski , Mia Karwowska, Franciszek Karwowski

Under the Stars

With his parents’ break up at the forefront of his mind, a young boy seeks escape and someone to talk to. Without a male figure in his life, he seeks solace under the stars with a message for his Grandad, who doesn’t need to reply, but just to listen. They are not so far from here.

Feather Flowers

Producer: Meg and Lacey

A young woman talks to her hero, her grandmother, who tells her stories of her early life in Australia.

Our Way

By: Wapikoni Mobile

Two young Innu women take up the old roads of the past to revive the identity of their Nation; a tribute to the Elders, the territory and the Innu people.

Abuela's Cookbook

By: Isabel Kembel-Rodriguez

When a young girl finds an old recipe book in her late Spanish grandmother’s boxes, she is transported back in time.

Let the stories be true [Que sean verdad los cuentos]

Produced by:Carlos Gerardo García

Gregorio is a 6 year old boy, who under the hope that he will be rich in brief time, he promise to his grandpa buy him a new radio; to his father a new desk so he can work; and to her mother a real space suit for her new play. But he does not know what really goes on with them.

Overnight Stay

Producer: Daniela Sherer

A grandmother's recollections of people who helped her as a jew in europe during the holocaust.

Films Made by Kids

Forgetting to be Grandpa

By: Imaginate Ink

When 17-year-old Alexander passes the bust of his grandpa, he remembers whom he is supposed to be.

A Modern Hero: A Love Story

By: Imaginate Ink

“It was from my grandmother, my Popo, that I learned how to love and that seemingly ordinary things are what are most extraordinary.”

Manju

By: DCTV Youth Media

Nai Nai

By: Emilee Sung

My ancestors come from an illiterate fishing village Where pirates lay in wait for merchant ships to plunder

President Jimmy Carter, in 1978, proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day.

From Jimmy Carter's proclamation of National Grandparents Day:

"We all know grandparents whose values transcend passing fads and pressures, and who possess the wisdom of distilled pain and joy. Because they are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations."

Stories

Rolf Richardson, Pilot, Photographer and Author

By: Abigail Richardson

Pilot, Professional Photographer and Author

Frances Manuel, Native American Woman Hero

By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer

Frances Manuel, who was born in the early part of the 20th century, quietly changed the world of her people and the people she met through her basket weaving and cultural presentations.

Grandfather

By: Rejina Rai

Rejina's Nepalese grandfather was forced to leave Butan with only the clothes on his back.

Parlui Valentina

By: Anastasia Raileanu

Parlui Valentina saved her two grandchildren from a house fire caused by a broken TV.

My Guardian Angel

By: Nika Jarc

Nika cut her hair when her grandmother was no longer alive to brush it tenderly.

Grandma Herring

By: Kaila Herring

A Boomer grandmother teaches her Gen Z granddaughter simple pleasures.

Paco, My Dyslexic Hero

By: Skye Malik

Have you ever felt a connection with one of your grandparents? It could be as simple as the love of the same restaurant or as complex as communicating without being able to speak the same language. Well I have had that connection with my grandfather Leo Corey, otherwise known as Paco in my family. We both share the same learning disability, dyslexia.

Abraham Nickin

By: Michel Nickin

From the Christian Science Monitor

South Africa’s ‘soccer grannies’ take the field for kicks and camaraderie

By: Ryan Lenora Brown

May 13, 2025 - Vakhegula Vakhegula FC – which translates to Grandmothers Grandmothers Football Club – are traveling the world as ambassadors for older women in sports. [CSM Story]