Guest Post
Isn’t it amazing how the stern parents we once knew become the sweetest, most patient people when it comes to their grandchildren? It’s an odd transformation to watch but, thankfully, it benefits all parties involved.
The relationship between your children and their grandparents should be special and one that they will remember into their adult years. However, between work and personal obligations, it can be difficult to form a special bonding relationship. Making time for fun activities for your kids to have with their grandparents can give parents some much needed time alone, while teaching your children the importance of family.
Share a Book
Trips to the library can be a great way for grandparents to spend some quality time with their grandchildren. Together, they can discuss their specific interests and favorite authors, they can get introduced to classic books, and they enjoy being read to in an environment outside of the home. They can also share books at home by spending an afternoon or evening before bedtime reading stories. Remind grandma and grandpa to add inflection and various voices to make the books come alive.
Create Grandparent Activities
Whether your children are at the infant stage of their life, in grade school or teenagers, their grandparents can find an assortment of things to do with them. Infants are fairly simple and games of peek-a-boo and story time can be a fun-filled afternoon. Grade school aged children love to play baseball, soccer and video games.
Even when grandparents are not in a traditional home, they can still find ways to engage. One great example is an environment that facilitates assisted living Dunwoody GA. Their daily schedule includes onsite games and activities that offers great opportunities for your children and parents to bond and bring and receive joy from the other residents in the community.
For the teenager in your life, bowling, sporting events, card games and festivals can be an entertaining and fun way to spend an evening with their grandparents.
Plan a Sleepover
Sleepovers are a great way for your children to spend some fun time away from home with their grandparents. It’s also an excellent way for parents to be alone to reconnect and bond as a couple. Have the grandparents set up a plan for the kids’ arrival and have some of their favorites on hand such as meals, treats, toys and activities.
Meals are a great time to catch up and learn about the grandchildren’s likes, dislikes and things that they’re most interested in. Suggest they set up a fort, pop some corn and pop in a DVD for a cozy evening in. For something more adventurous, you can help them plan a camping trip in your backyard with a tent, fire for roasting marshmallows and storytelling before bedtime.
Traditions
Many young people today are unfamiliar with their family background. Learning about their parents’ childhoods, their heritage and traditions are important in making them the person that they will become.
A great place to start is by looking at old family videos of when they, and their parents were young. Grandparents can also drive them through the neighborhoods of their ancestors and where their parents grew up. Holidays, birthdays and anniversaries can be spent sharing stories and cooking recipes that were handed down generation to generation.
It doesn’t matter where they go, or what they do, time spent with a grandparent is special. It can be as simple as them cheering their grandchild on during soccer games or spending a vacation touring Europe. Regardless of how far or close they live, children can benefit from a loving relationship with their grandparents.
Akilah Richards is a Certified Family Life Educator who focuses on women’s emotional wellness. She shares insights into ways to strengthen family bonds and increase overall quality of life. For Georgia families whose elderly members are in need of domicile care, Dogwood Forest offers quality assisted living Dunwoody GA. Visit their site and learn more about this unique environment.
I love this post! Great advice!
I try and get together with my mom once a week. The kids are sleeping over this weekend!
I completely agree! I try to make sure both my kids are connected with all their grandparents
These are cute suggestions…my son loves his grandparents.
Thank God for grandparents! My kids see my parents a couple of times per week. Wish the saw Hubs’ more.
It saddens me that my daughter has grown up with no grandfathers and doesn’t see her grandmothers a lot. She sees them once in a while but I wish it were more often.
My grandchildren love it when I tell them stories about their Mommy when she was little. My granddaughter recently (who is 4) asked my granddaughter if I am in my 90’s? My daughter told me “Don’t feel bad Ma, she thinks I’m in my 80’s)
I hope my daughter reads this. She makes a point of always posting that we aren’t close. It isn’t because I don’t try!
I definitely think a relationship with their grandparents is so important for children. My boys have a really close relationship with my mom.
My girls see my husband’s mom multiple times a week and my parents at least 2 times a month. It’s so important to us that they connect with their grandparents.
I love these suggestions! My mom is super involved with her grandchildren and I hope to be just as involved when my son has children of his own.
What you said is true for my grandparents. They were awfully hard on my mom and she really didn’t have a great relationship with them, but they were the sweetest, most loving and caring grandparents to us. Go figure!
Great advice! Thanks for sharing!
Yes! I was close to one grandmother. One of the saddest things in my life is I rarely saw my other 3 grandparents and they all passed away by the time I was 15. I have a few lovely memories of them – but oh how I wish I had more.
I have wonderful memories of my grandparents. I loved spending time at their farm. Fortunately they lived just across town and my other grandmother was only about 15 miles away. I hope my grandson will remember me as fondly as I remember them. He lives with us (permanently now) so we have to be parents, too. It’s a fine line, but I think we’re balancing things right 🙂
I was very close with my maternal grandparents, but because my paternal ones lived overseas I wasn’t so close to them. I regret it now as I’m older that I don’t have a connection to that side of the family because of that. We don’t live near my parents either and I try to encourage my daughter to e-mail and phone with my parents so that she still feels a bond with them. It’s hard when you don’t live close.
My parents are both in their 90s and I want, more than anything else, my kids to savour every precious moment with them.
Such great tips! Thanks for posting this!
My son loves his grandparents and it’s so important for them to be in their lives.
This is a great article! I had all my grandparents growing up and they blessed me tremendously with their knowledge and patience. I’ve tried to instill the same quality time and fun I had into my grandchildren’s lives. Now they are teenagers. We are best friends and confidantes’.