My Dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around the U.S. often. Both my grandmothers lived in California, so we traveled to see them in summers and at Christmas in our trusty Ford station wagon, singing “Over the river and through the woods…”. Seeing my grandmothers was worth the hours and days in the car with my siblings as we traveled across the country.
Whether they call you grandma, nana, oma, granny, nanny, graham cracker, or any other special name, let’s be sure they call you with love and anticipation. How do we become a Grandmother they will want to be with and listen to?
First off, let’s talk about spoiling our grandkids. Is that a given, or a no-no? Well, yes and no. When I polled family and friends on what made their relationship with their grandparents special, it was often the spoiling they remember. “She let me eat anything I wanted.” “We always baked cookies together.” “She took us exciting places.”
However, parents of these grandkids asked, “How can we keep our parents from spoiling our children?”
So I’ll give you my opinion from my position of being a grandchild to two wonderful Grandmas, a parent to children who had two wonderful grandmothers, and now being a grandma myself. It’s OK to spoil your grandchildren—a little.
Parents have the job of teaching and raising and setting rules and enforcing those rules. Grandmas have done all that, now they can relax the rules—a little. There are a couple of guidelines to watch for when spoiling.
Read the rest at the American Mothers California Blog Archive!