From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

Grandparents are special! Unfortunately, I never had a living grandpa and only one grandma was living when I was a child. My four grandchildren are sooooo lucky when their grandparents live near them. We  can be part of the children’s growing lives. So many adventures are ahead in all of our lives.

Certainly it was great being a parent (most of the time), but being a grandparent is GREAT!

It’s an exciting time watching babies grow into verbal, running, questioning children! It’s the best when I can cuddle our baby boy Scout at nine months, read five-year-old tiara-crowned Princess Ellie a story and do puzzles and art projects with the bejeweled costumed sisters Charli (almost five) and three-year-old Max Margaret.

Everyone in our family is looking forward to the annual Easter egg hunt with candy-filled plastic eggs. Hopefully, this year’s race to find the most eggs will not be another disaster like the Easter I had to stop my son Andy and his older sister Kate from clobbering each other with their baskets! They’ve always been so competitive! The girls will likely have muddy wet dresses from grass stains and snow, but no bloody noses or cut lips.

We’ll gather at Kate and Matt’s home for our Easter feast while the kids color and paint in Ellie’s playroom. How fun to see the girls playing together while baby Scout naps, eats and sleeps. Our only  grandson is such a smiley, content boy.

Many changes have evolved today in caring for children since Kate and Andy were born in the early eighties. We didn’t have all the “regulations” that todays’ parents have regarding cribs, car seats, toys, etc. Isn’t it amazing how our kids survived? Most of the cribs and seats we parents saved for our grandbabies are obsolete and don’t meet today’s regulations. Remember biking and sledding down steep hills with no helmets? I used to put baby Kate in a wicker basket in my little silver Mazda Miata and consider her safe. No more would those actions be approved! Today baby monitors make it so much easier and safer to monitor babies in the crib while moms and dads are doing chores around the house. Acceptable regulation car seats go by weight of the child, breast pumps help working mothers and video chats are great for grandparents as well as working parents who have to travel and can’t be home at night to tuck their babies in bed.

Videos today can be great teaching tools educating kids about letters, colors, pet care, even attitudes of kindness, dos and don’ts. Many of us raised our kids with the help of Mr. Rogers and  “Sesame Street” helpers. Our kids loved Big Bird, Miss Piggy, Elmer, Bert and Ernie and Oscar the Grouch, my son Andy’s favorite.

Kids, you’re so lucky if your grandparents are around to watch you grow and develop. Grandpas and grandmas can be so great for grandkids. They might take you fishing or to the ball game, teach you how to catch a ball or play tennis. Of course, they’ll take you for ice cream after playing at the playground. They may teach you how to plant flowers, play the piano, ride a trike and bake cookies. Grandmas and grandpas will take a lot of pictures of you and to put extra money in your piggy bank. Grandparents will tell you stories…lots of stories and read books to help you fall asleep.

Some grandpas can juggle and wiggle their ears. Some grandmas will let you try on her glasses and necklaces and play dress up with old clothes. We’ll want to make you laugh, kiss your owies, take you to the park, the DQ and go for walks around the neighborhood. Best of all, we grandpas and grandmas like to hold you tight and give you hugs and kisses.

Some of us grandparents might be a little older and get tired quicker than we’d like. We may talk extra loud and maybe can’t move as fast or toss you in the air like your Dad does. But we’ll send you cards, call often to say we love you and blow kisses on the video screen.

I love being nana/grandma to my four little sweeties!

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.