Keeping them happy and healthy should be essential. In the this poem, the speaker is telling her own children that grandparents have rights. American grandparents feel that they have to plead with their own children for time. I think it is horrible the way that elders are just seen as a burden. Some Americans feel that it would be too much work to take care of elders when they can no longer look after themselves.
Time is money and there is no time for their elders.
At times they must be watched over like children. The thought of taking time out of their busy schedule for their own parents is incomprehensible. Elders become annoying because they want to be part of their children's life. They try to give advice that their children just do not want to hear. There words of wisdom sound like nonsense to this successful generation.