Grandkids

AT one time we had 9 grandchildren all grade school age or younger living in our city and their mothers all wanted me to baby sit them while they worked. I was the only unemployed female in the family......I got a job. The first woman I met on the job said, "I had to get a job, all I did was baby sit".
 

I have 2 daughters. Nine Grandchildren and five stepgrandchildren. I love them all. 8 boys and 6 girls. Oldest is 23 and married. Youngest is 6. 6 live 20 miles from me. And the rest live 200 miles away. I visit all of them often since I am widowed and retired. My house is too small to entertain all at once. I cannot imagine my life without them. I so wish My husband was still alive to see them. They were the light of his life. Three of my Grandsons are in college and all keep a high GPA.
 
10! Grandparenting rocks! All the fun; none of the responsibility. What happens at Grammy's; stays at Grammy's. If I let him watch that scene from Supernatural, it's our secret. (Don't worry. It was a nonviolent scene. I had to show him Cas as for a boy raised without religion he has a weird fascination with angels and believes in them and when he found out his unbelieving grandmother loved a character that was an angel...) Likewise, he knows he can tell me something he doesn't want shared with his mother. I knew a year before she did that he stopped believing in Santa Claus. My grandson and I have fun together and I cherish every moment of it. Also, his personality is so like mine, it's downright eerie.
 

We love and spoil ours for all we can. Hate to see them leave. My kids complain that I spend more time with the Grandkids than I do visiting with them. So?
 
My grandkids are two Tween boys & two Disney Princesses, who all live far away. And while we don't get to see each other often, we stay in touch with lots of phone calls, e-mails, photos & videos. When we do get together, it's non-stop fun like baking & cooking together, one-day road trips, board game or movie marathons, pizza night, toasting marshmallows by the campfire, or just snuggling on the couch. But the best thing of all are the laughs, giggles, hugs & kisses we share.
 
We counted ourselves fortunate to live about twenty minutes away from our twin grandsons. Our daughter in law worked, and my wife did not. She asked my wife if she would watch them for 100.a week. My wife told her she would be wiling to pay her 100.a week for the opportunity. I happened to lose my job at the time during the bad recession, with little hope of finding another, and took over the boys for a year, while my wife went to work. I count that as one of the very best times of my entire life. They were three years old at the time. We had a roaring good time! Three kids with no adult supervision! Running, jumping on beds, laughing. Robert thought it was fun to run away when he needed his diaper changed, and would roll over on his stomach while I was trying to change him. That wasn't as much fun. We took them to breakfast every Sunday, and played all the games on the place mats. One day when they were a little older. I was sitting on the toilet around lunch time and a note was slid under the door with a single word on it "Spaghettios". Lol!
Grandkids? You bet. Most men don't know what they are missing. They were my wife's life. I was very happy to step back into second place and watch her do her thing. Great, great fun!
 
Underock1 said:
We counted ourselves fortunate to live about twenty minutes away from our twin grandsons. Our daughter in law worked, and my wife did not. She asked my wife if she would watch them for 100.a week. My wife told her she would be wiling to pay her 100.a week for the opportunity. I happened to lose my job at the time during the bad recession, with little hope of finding another, and took over the boys for a year, while my wife went to work. I count that as one of the very best times of my entire life. They were three years old at the time. We had a roaring good time! Three kids with no adult supervision! Running, jumping on beds, laughing. Robert thought it was fun to run away when he needed his diaper changed, and would roll over on his stomach while I was trying to change him. That wasn't as much fun. We took them to breakfast every Sunday, and played all the games on the place mats. One day when they were a little older. I was sitting on the toilet around lunch time and a note was slid under the door with a single word on it "Spaghettios". Lol!
Grandkids? You bet. Most men don't know what they are missing. They were my wife's life. I was very happy to step back into second place and watch her do her thing. Great, great fun!
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As I said at the beginning of this thread, I don't see mine nearly as often as I'd like since we live in different countries. But we do spend a month every year in Michigan and get some good quality time with them. My husband is not their biological grandfather but he is in every other way. I often Skype the girls though so that is really nice. Been doing so since they were born!

My sister lives in Michigan and her 5 grandkids are all within half an hour of her house. She often babysits and is usually called on when one is sick so the parents can still go to work, but normally they are in daycare. Her 3 kids gave her the 5 grandkids within 5 years. The oldest is about to turn 6 and the youngest about to turn 1.
 
I have 7 Grandsons and 2 Granddaughters and 2 great Granddaughters,
Grandchildren range from 33 down to 18.
But my first grandchild was born when i was 39.
I see them all sometimes.
 
I guess I'm the odd man out here.. I'm not really over the moon ecstatic and breathlessly awaiting a visit from the GKs.. I have 3, two boys and a girl, ages 12,9,& 5. They are cute and I love them, but they are kids.. and I've never really been a "kid" person. We don't live all that far from them.. about 30 miles or so. I see them 3 or 4 times a year when my son brings them over. Now he is looking for me to spend a day with him and the kids at the zoo.. It should be a nice day.
 
I was over the moon when I found out I was going to be a grandmother. And jumping up and down when I found out it was a girl as I'd had two sons.
 
I have been blessed with five beautiful granddaughters, two handsome grandsons and two beautiful great granddaughters. The oldest is 26 and the youngest just turned 1. None live near me. So I do not see them often enough. Thankfully, Facebook keeps us in touch.
 
ndynt said:
I have been blessed with five beautiful granddaughters, two handsome grandsons and two beautiful great granddaughters. The oldest is 26 and the youngest just turned 1. None live near me. So I do not see them often enough. Thankfully, Facebook keeps us in touch.
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How about Skyping them? Face to face chats. Next best thing to being there.
 
Ameriscot said:
How about Skyping them? Face to face chats. Next best thing to being there.
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We did that when they were younger. Now that they are adults, with busy lives, it does not seem a option. Thankfully, my granddaughter in Utah posts pictures and videos, almost daily, of her two little ones.
 
ndynt said:
We did that when they were younger. Now that they are adults, with busy lives, it does not seem a option. Thankfully, my granddaughter in Utah posts pictures and videos, almost daily, of her two little ones.
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That's nice. My sister refuses to use FB and I see photos of her grandkids before she does sometimes as her kids are on it. She'll Skype me and tell me what her kids are up to or where they are on vacation and I tell her I already know. :D
 
Ameriscot said:
That's nice. My sister refuses to use FB and I see photos of her grandkids before she does sometimes as her kids are on it. She'll Skype me and tell me what her kids are up to or where they are on vacation and I tell her I already know. :D
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I can totally relate. My sister is on FB, only plays games though. I find out about my nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren from FB vs her.
 
ndynt said:
I can totally relate. My sister is on FB, only plays games though. I find out about my nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren from FB vs her.
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My sister won't go near it, not even to just have family as friends. She's still quite a technophobe and one of our brothers has convinced her FB is evil.
 
Ameriscot said:
My sister won't go near it, not even to just have family as friends. She's still quite a technophobe and one of our brothers has convinced her FB is evil.
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That evil stand amazes me. I have heard it too many times. Notice that eventually, many that condemned it, are now on there more than I am.:dunno: It is what you want it to be.
 
ndynt said:
That evil stand amazes me. I have heard it too many times. Notice that eventually, many that condemned it, are now on there more than I am.:dunno: It is what you want it to be.
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She's heard about accounts getting hacked so assumes it's easy - our brother tells her all this stuff. And they think through FB everything you do online is tracked. She keeps saying she has no use for it. But she misses out on things as our sil often posts family invitations on FB because she forgets my sister doesn't have it. Sister actually missed an event because of that.

I didn't join for a long time as I thought it was just for kids. But when I found out my sis in law was on I joined. We were living in Uganda at the time and it was great for keeping up with people. I remember following the labour of my nephew's wife with my sis in law through FB. Nephew would keep us posted and then posted photos of the new baby. We called it the cyber waiting room.
 
I don't know how to answer. We love our granddaughter unconditionally. She is the absolute light of our lives.
Problem/Joy I don't know. We are the baby sitters. Her parents both work unconventional shifts with varying hours,making it impossible to have daycare. We step in with having her overnite two days a week and cover a three hour shift change the other days of the week.
Do we like it? No! We do not like the commitment that takes so much of free time!
Yes! We love having her around and helping her have as close to an idyllic childhood as we can provide. Parents don't always have the time to engage her fully where we are able to take our time and teach her the beauty and love that surrounds her.
Family is paramount on my side. We take pride in multigenerational gatherings with close and extended family. We take great joy in letting her know that she will never be alone in the world as long as there is a family member to support her.
I guess that my sense of duty to family out weighs my personal desire to be unencumbered by responsibilities
 
I'm not sure, but I think a lot has to do with the fact the GKs are your son's kids or your daughter's kids. I don't have girls.. so I am the paternal Grandmother. I see women who are relaxed with their GKs and "grandparent" them as if they were there own kids. 9 times out of 10.. they are the maternal grandparents. I am way to nervous with my GKs.. in spite of them being my son's kids... they are STILL some other woman's kids. Like it or not.. there is a difference I think. What if they get hurt while I am watching them? Or sick? I don't feel the same latitude with them that maternal GMs seem to have..
 
QuickSilver said:
I'm not sure, but I think a lot has to do with the fact the GKs are your son's kids or your daughter's kids. I don't have girls.. so I am the paternal Grandmother. I see women who are relaxed with their GKs and "grandparent" them as if they were there own kids. 9 times out of 10.. they are the maternal grandparents. I am way to nervous with my GKs.. in spite of them being my son's kids... they are STILL some other woman's kids. Like it or not.. there is a difference I think. What if they get hurt while I am watching them? Or sick? I don't feel the same latitude with them that maternal GMs seem to have..
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I have two sons as well, no daughters. Another difference between them being your son's or daughter's kids is if they get divorced you often won't have as much access to them if they are your son's kids.

I didn't become a grandmother until I'd lived abroad for 5 years, so never lived close to them.
 

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