Elder Care Cafe

Grandparents and grandchildren seem to have a special bond that cannot be broken no matter what happens. I’ve found that one of the greatest blessings in my life is my grandson, who is now five-years-old.  Anyone who knows me knows that I was not the best parent in the world.

One of the great things about having grandchildren is that we can learn from our experience and hopefully make a much more positive difference in their life than we did the first time around.

I’m proud of both my daughters and how they turned out in spite of their father and me. It’s especially satisfying to see what a great mom my daughter is with her son. What makes her role as top-mom even more challenging is that he is a special needs child.

The perks of grandparenting

The cool thing about being a grandparent is that we can spoil them rotten and then send them home. It’s up to their parents to get them settled down again.

The reason I’m thinking about it today is that David is coming over this afternoon to spend the night – just for the joy of it. At various times in the last couple of years I’ve played a larger role in caring for him when he was not in school. Right now someone else is helping out quite a bit so I don’t see him that often.

I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, because when I do see him we can get wild and crazy and I don’t have to worry so much about maintaining discipline. We can just have fun.

Plus, its summer time and he is not in school so we can stay up as late as we want or sleep in and take life easy.

One thing I’ve noticed about the time we spend together is that I feel so much younger afterwards. Playing with PlayDoh and building Lego’s towers and laughing our hearts out makes me feel almost like I’m a kid again. Watching children’s shows on TV has been quite a learning experience.

Learning Curve

I know far more about dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Train than I ever would have otherwise. And, watching the magical kingdoms of Barney, Backyardigans, Between the Lions, and Caillou brings new life and energy to me and to others who are feeling like life has passed them by.

Most people think that grandchildren act better behaved with their grandparents than they do their parents. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I think David acts pretty much the same no matter what. I do believe he plays by himself more at home than he does with me – seems to pretty much attach himself when he is over. But, that may be because he doesn’t see me all that often anymore and wants to make sure we enjoy quality time together.

What I do know is that grandparents and grandchildren have a special bond, and I would have it no other way. Now I can feel like a child again, at least for a little while.