Isn't it fun to be a grandparent? I love it!!! Unfortunately my grandchildren all live far away - very far away. Now, I'm not trying to make any of their parents feel guilty, we are very happy for our children and the lives they have made. Instead, it's to give encouragement to grandparents who also find themselves unable to be 'daily' grandparents.
I was fortunate enough when my first grandchild was born (almost 20 years ago) that they lived in the same town. What a wonderful first year we had! Then they moved over a 1.000 miles away! Wow! What a change that was for him and I! We were blessed with the fact that for the first few years he could come back and spend a couple of weeks with us every summer. Air fare was cheap and frequent visits were made. This worked well for the first 6 years or so and included the birth of our first granddaughter. Fast forward 4 more years and add in 4 more grandchildren and the rising cost of airfare and the visits were not as frequent.
I wanted to be sure that my grand kids knew me so I became a long-distance grandma of fun. Let me share some tips I have used.
When my first granddaughter was born I wanted her to know the sound of my voice. So I made a recording. I took a favorite book of her brothers and recorded myself reading it.If I remember right the book was Pokey Little Puppy. I would make a comment when it was time to turn the page. I also recorded myself singing some of the songs I used to rock her brother to sleep with. I then packed up the tape, the book and recorder and sent it off to Arizona.
I used to keep containers of snow in my deep freeze. That way when the kids would come to visit, no matter what time of year, they could play with snow. When it got to the point that I had to many grandchildren to keep that many containers in the freezer I did something different for the ones in Arizona. I bought an assortment of Styrofoam balls, some special snowmen mugs, a package of hot chocolate and a bag of marshmallows. I boxed this all up and sent it off with instructions that these were indoor snow balls. I told them that anytime it snowed at my house I would let their mother know and they could have an indoor snowball fight and drink hot chocolate and I would do the same thing. It was like we would be together.
Kids love getting mail so I sometimes would print off little notes from the computer and fold up special envelopes and send each child a note in the mail. As they have gotten older, I have kept a package of note cards on hand. Every so often I will address one to each child and send it off. To make this even more special, I include some confetti in the envelope and when they open up the card it's like a party happened. Not sure how my daughters feel about this but oh well.
Visit Dollar Tree and buy an assortment of fun stuff for no reason. Box this up and send it off with a note telling them it's a box of fun from Grandma. No reason for the box - no special birthday or anything just for fun. Silly String is always good to have on hand or to include in such a box.
And most importantly, when you do get a chance to spend time with them - DO SO. This may mean you ride the skateboard when they ask you to. You may play street hockey when the temperature is 118 degrees. You may be playing a game of two on two basketball with 3 teenage boys. It may mean playing video games. You might be making a fort and sleeping on the floor. But whatever it is - if they ask you to do it - give it a try.
And remember, it is much easier to have a relationship now than it was twenty years ago. With my first grandchild it was lots of phone calls and whispers in the closet so his parents didn't know he had called. Now there is phone, Facebook, email, the opportunities are endless. So if your grandson asks you to start playing some online game so you can spend time together - do it. If you find yourself setting goals of how many times in a row you can poke each other on Facebook - treasure it. You won't regret it.
Oh - it never hurts to adopt some local child nearby to use for an across-the-street grandchild for when you need a grand kid fix.
Let me share a few pictures of my grand kids - I'm pretty proud of all of them.
This is my oldest - he'll be 20 this July! Wow! how time flies.
Here's my Best Bud! He recently moved to Washington. We have lots of fun together.
These three boys are quite a mess when they get together! Only a year apart in age.
The twins! What one doesn't think of the other one will. They like to trick me when we play video games and tell me what a loser I am. LOL
My two granddaughters. Aren't they good looking girls?
Cady in her Civil Air Patrol taking a flight.
Me and my girls. Aren't they a couple of cuties?
And here's that across-the-street granddaughter I told you about. No, unfortunately, she was not bringing the Rocket drink to me.
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