Is it Sinful for Grandparents to Travel?


Here she goes again…I should really stop looking at the nonsense the toxic Titus 2 blogger spews on social media, but her following is large and full of legalistic edicts, so like a train wreck, I find it difficult to look away.

This one has come up several times in the last year.  I finally felt compelled to respond.

Here is the text of her post:

“If you are a grandma, spend your remaining years on what matters, not on a career or traveling. Spend it investing your life into your grandchildren passing your faith onto them, loving them, and caring for them. There’s nothing more important you can do with the time you have left than this. It will bless you immensely too.”

I enjoyed a good and close relationship with my grandmother.  I was blessed to spend a lot of time with her. My kids didn’t get to have that kind of relationship with their grandparents, mostly because of distance, and that is okay. I intend to have a relationship with any grandchildren I may have in the future.  So I have no problem with the idea of connecting with your grands in any way you can.

But what I have a problem with is the condemnation of retired grandparents enjoying some time traveling after they have worked and saved and raised their own kids.

This woman does not enjoy traveling.  That’s fine, some people don’t. But the way she presents her edicts is that if you aren’t pouring every minute into your grandkids and spending time with them, you are sinning.  And you are selfish if you spend some time and money traveling.

We aren’t all the same. And that’s okay. It’s totally okay for her to not enjoy traveling. But it’s wrong for her to put this out there as if women who love Jesus are sinning to go on some trips. Christian women should not feel obligated to fit into a neat little box. God made us with different interests, incomes, skills, and temperaments. Every journey is completely unique, and the Bible doesn’t say we have to be just like this random lady who thinks she has cornered the market on what it means to be a Christian woman.

We enjoy traveling (so far just in the United States) and would like to see more of the world God has created when we have more time to do so. Sometimes we take our grown children with us. None of them live nearby, so some of our trips involve visits with them.  If grands are eventually part of the mix, we will probably visit even more often on our way here and there. Probably some of the time we might bring some of them with us, but I can’t say that for sure. I think that might be a fun way to both travel and spend time with your grands.

So if you are a grandma or hope to be one someday, just know that your enjoyment of traveling is NOT a sin and you can ignore any Titus 2 lady who tries to tell you otherwise. 

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