The importance of being part of your grandchildrens' lives

Grandchildren are such a blessing, to me, they're like bonus children because they're the children of my children. 

I began my family at the age of 19. I was young and inexperienced but did the best I could. I stayed at home as long as I could before getting a full time job. That's when things got hard. Juggling work and a family of little ones was challenging and though I did my best to give them quality time, it seemed there were never enough hours in the day. I would have loved to have had time to sit and play games with them for hours, laugh at silly cartoons, or do other things they enjoyed, but it seemed we were always running. In the blink of an eye, they were grown and gone. Time had escaped and there was no calling it back. 

But now I have the gift of 9 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren! I don't get to see any of them at the same time, but whenever possible, I relish spending time with the ones who're available. 

Last week, I got to see my youngest granddaughter. It's always such a pleasure to spend time with her. She's home schooled so it's fairly easy to pop into her day on short notice. Her mommy, my middle daughter, graciously allows us to interrupt on occasion and I'm grateful for that.Whenever we do go to visit, I do my best to incorporate some type of fun activity into our visit. My granddaughter is extremely smart and enjoys learning but I try to sneak lessons in under the radar. 

I love writing and want to foster that love into the lives of my grandchildren. I also want to help them discover the power of creativity, so on our visit, I decided to use something my granddaughter said to formulate a quick lesson. 

We were sitting on the sofa as she held a little stuffed dog. I asked the name of her animal -she names all of her stuffies. She told me this one's name was Penny. Penny was a little Pug dog. As she said holding the dog, I reached over and picked up a little toy crown lying on the table nearby and placed it on the dog's head. "Now her name is Princess Penny the Pug," I said. That's when the idea came...we needed to write a short story together. 

I began the first line of the story, "Princess Penny the Pug lived in......" and then I pointed to my granddaughter. When she didn't answer quickly, I said, "Think of a place that starts with the letter P." That prompt caused her to immediately say, "Pennsylvania." So I began the story again, "Princess Penny the Pug lived in Pennsylvania and she loved to ...." By then, my granddaughter was getting the hang of it as we continued using P words. We formulated an entire story and as we worked together throwing the story back and forth for input, we laughed and giggled. I was happy. She was seeing that learning could be silly and fun. 

We wrote the story down as we went and after completing it underlined all the P words in red. Then, my daughter took the story and read it aloud for us in her best British accent. (She was always interested in drama and studied it for years. We always thought she'd major in drama when she was in college but decided to take another path.) It was so fun to have all of us participating and hopefully, the memory of that day will be forever etched into my granddaughter's mind. Perhaps, one day, when she's a mother, she'll carry on this activity with her children or maybe with her own grandchildren.)

I remember spending time with my grandparents when I was younger. Those were special times and I have treasured memories of them stored in my heart. Hopefully, my grandchildren will feel the same about me one day. As long as I'm able, I'll take time to use every opportunity to help get their creative juices flowing, foster fun, and relish our time together. 

They grow up too fast!

 

Items she collected on our walk

There's nothing sadder than watching the innocence of childhood come to an end. 

This weekend, while spending time with one of my granddaughters, I realized she's not a little girl any longer. 

At 9 years of age, the changes have come subtly but this weekend, as I watched her, I realized she's teetering on the edge of teenage life. 

I'm thankful for the time I get to spend with her. It isn't a lot, usually once a month and at major holidays and birthdays. I'd love to have more but I'll take what I can get at this point. 

We did a lot of things while she was here. I always try to find fun ways to keep her entertained without plopping her in front of the TV. 

The first thing we did was a science experiment. We talked about density, volume, and air. I used a bar of regular soap and a bar of Ivory soap to help give her a visual explanation. She laughed as we put the bar of regular soap in the bowl of water and it immediately sank to the bottom. Then, stood in awe watching the bar of Ivory float. Next, we took a bar of Ivory and put it in the microwave. I pulled up a chair so she could watch as the changes took place. Her eyes grew big as saucers as the soap began to expand filling my microwave with lush white clouds. When we took it out, I let her hold it. "It's light as a feather," she exclaimed. Then, I showed her how quickly the cloud would disappear if she crumbled it in her hands. The soap instantly became soap flakes. 

We went outside and did a nature walk where we discovered 5 garden slugs beneath the downspouts. She was intrigued with them and asked if we could pick them up. I found a piece of an old wooden slat and showed her how to gently lift a slug without harming it. 

She studied that slug for a long time, watching it move slowly across a piece of bark leaving a shiny, slimy trail. She looked up at me and said, "Gigi, do you know slugs are Gastropods?" I was amazed at this little one. Of course, she's very intelligent and loves to watch any and everything about nature, but she's always taken a special interest in insects and other small creatures since she was a tiny thing. 

I sat beside her and together we watched the slug maneuver his way up and then down the leaf of an Iris plant. Her eyes twinkled as she asked me how slugs move without any legs. I had a chance to teach her about the muscle contractions some animals and insects use and realized, though we were just outside enjoying nature, we were also having quite a homeschool lesson. 

We came inside after our adventure and I taught her how to make homemade play dough. I'd made it for her in the past but I'd always done all the measuring and cooking. This time, I allowed her that honor giving instructions as she worked. 

The precious memories we made that day are priceless. I know it won't be long before she won't care about taking nature walks with her Gigi and she'll be more interested in clothes and makeup than studying slugs. It makes me sad to think those days are coming to an end, but that's life. She has to grow up even if I don't want her to.