Aren't Kids Grand?

Aren't kids grand?  Depends on what age your kids are how you answer this.  New parents - so in love with that baby - unless it has colic and cries 23 out of 24 hours a day 6 and a half days a week.  Well, they still love that baby - but after day 3 they aren't thinking he's so grand.  LOL  After 3 months they just want help from anyone.  If the mailman rings the doorbell they will pass that baby to him to hold for a while.  Anything for a little break. 

Age 2 years to 5 - still pretty adorable but then they start getting kind of smart alecky.  And it gets worse when they start school and are around other kids.  Lord, help the parent at this time have the strength to be a parent.  One who disciplines and loves.  It is so hard - but trust me - you will be glad you were that parent when the next phase comes along.  The dreaded teenage years!  Parents need medals for surviving these years - dating, driving, It's enough to make your blood pressure soar.  If you don't have high blood pressure before your kids are teeneagers - you most likely will by the time they leave this era of their life behind. 

Whew - now we can relax, right?  Wrong - as a parent you still worry even though your kids are grown and on their own.  You know you raised them right.  You know they know right from wrong.  However, you no longer have as much say in their decisions.  Running with the wrong people?  You can voice a concern but don't say to much or you may not hear from them for a while.  Think they are doing something totally irresponsible and wrong?  Well, again - express your concern but don't alienate them.  Support them and be there for them is the best you can do. 

Eventually we get back to aren't kids grand?  Yes, eventually those kids that you raised, loved, cried over, prayed over, despaired over become parents themselves.  Then you have GRAND kids.  And trust me, there is nothing grander than grand kids.  And oh the things those grand kids can get you to do! 

My oldest grandson was (and probably still is) spoiled.  The first grandchild -- loved to death - no one else to share attention with.  Just about anything he wanted he got.  For him I have been a swinging vine so he could play George of the Jungle.  I have played street hockey in July in Phoenix when the temp was 111 degrees in the shade.  I have played video games I do not understand.  But I don't just do this stuff for him - I do similar thing for all the grandkids. 

The two grandkids living here close to me love to play a game we call Jump on Grandma!  The object of this game is for them to come running at me as fast and hard as they can then jump on me.  Don't know what's so exciting about this but they love it.  I have had to tell them though that once they are as tall as me (which may be soon) the game then becomes Grandma Jumps on You.  Now keep in mind I have had one knee replacement and need a second one.  These same kids jumping on me are right there to help me climb stairs and get up off the floor, etc. 

I have played video games NeoPet (so we can connect with each other and talk I was told).  Really, I thought that we were already talking to each other via emails and texts.  Guess I was wrong - it's a whole 'nother communication outlet.  I have played Runescape.  The main object of this game was to be on there the same time as my grandson and his friend and I followed them around.  In order to do this I had to befriend his friend (whom I hadn't met) on this game.  I just kept hoping his parents didn't wonder what I was doing.  This was a castle type game where you could fight people and dig up treasure etc.  It was so hard that I couldn't even do the tutorial for this game.  I had to have my grandson do it just so I could get on there with him.  I tried playing it on my own some but stopped that when I found myself in a chapel killing people to save my own life.  That was just wrong.  After that anytime I got on by myself to try and get more experience, which I was told I needed, I just fought the goblins in the one place I knew. 

I have played Wii games that I do not understand (the twins tend to rook me into this).  They ask me to play and I say sure but I don't know what to do.  They say, oh no problem it's easy.  They then have me play first and I do horrible.  They then get on and show me what I should have done but didn't do because I didn't know.  But they are happy so who cares, right?  I have played Black Ops - not very good at this one either. 

I have played one-on-one basketball in the Phoenix heat with the twins and also with my teen-age grandson.  A little two-on-two with 3 teenage boys lets you know how out of shape you really are.  And I don't think after my knee replacement my doctor expected me to go skate boarding.

I have built forts in the living room and slept there with grandkids. I tell you what, maneuvering around chair legs when your legs don't bend well to get into the fort can be difficult.  I have been a surf board in the pool for the grandkids to stand on so they could surf.  I have been a test subject for my granddaughter (just call me Sparkle) to do a makeover. You know it's bad when you have a makeover and "Sparkle" says 'oops - that's a little to much'.  I don't know why my family let me leave the house without telling me I had glitter all over my face.  Not sure what the people at the Police Museum in Phoenix thought of that. 

I enjoy every single minute I spend with my GRAND kids and that is why I say "Aren't Kids
Grand?  So if you are not at the age yet where you have the GRAND kids - just wait - your reward is coming.