Goodness! It happened to your children, and now it’s happening to your grandchildren. They’re growing up so fast!
That makes it all the more important to schedule time with them. Don’t depend on chance making it easy for you to spend all the time you’d like with your grandkids. Be proactive and make grandchild time a regular part of your schedule.
A lot of tips for grandparents involve helping the grandparents adapt to their grandchildren’s interests and usual activities. Some grandparents brush up on computer games only—one would assume—to lose a bit of credibility when their five-year-old grandkids effortlessly thrash their grandparents at whatever games Grandma and (usually) Grandpa have knocked themselves out to learn.
I’ve observed over the years that grandparents don’t always have to adapt to their grandkids’ activities and interests in order to spend quality time with them. I’ve seen grandkids look curiously and even longingly at some of the things Grandpa and Grandma like to do. Sometimes kids are eager to step away from the mile-a-minute world they’ve always known into the mysterious, slower-paced world Grandma and Grandpa seem to enjoy.
A lot of kids are fascinated with the old ways of doing things. Making homemade ice cream, building a simple radio that may pull in only the strongest local station, or something as basic as planting a seed and watching it grow.
Many elderly Americans live in retirement communities. During my visits to retirement communities, I’ve seen grandparents including their grandkids in a range of activities from line dancing and shuffleboard to bingo and badminton, and those kids looked like happy campers. They were participating in new activities and didn’t seem to have the can-you-believe-this sort of expression you might see on a kid if Grandpa embarrasses himself one more time at Super Mario. The children were learning from the grandparents, and that’s usually how it should be. Of course, grandparents ought to support their grandchildren’s interests, but a good grandparent will also make every effort to broaden the grand kids’ horizons by involving them in activities they might not otherwise have the chance to enjoy.
Involve your grandkids in some of your regular activities and you’ll find senior living can be a blast—both for you and your grandkids. You can’t slow time down, but you certainly can fill it with precious memories!
What are some activities you do with your grandkids? Leave a comment down below!
Like your Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement plans, spending time with your grandkids is a great investment.
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