Just when I'm thinking "I have nothing to write about" one of my readers who is a frequent commenter does it for me. Thank you, Chloe, for your beautifully written words about parenting and grandparenting that you made on my last post about our Mimi Camp. Since they are already online for the world to see, I'm hoping you don't mind that I post them again.
Just when you think your own child has past the last fun stage of their lives and you no longer marvel at every new experience that they are going through - they go and have grandchildren and this time it is all fun and fresh and less responsibility. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas to engage our grandchildren at a time in our lives when it might be a lot easier to just sit on the porch and watch them watching Sesame Street. The scavenger hunt idea is just the best. I had forgotten things like that. Chloe. P.S. My one brainstorm was giving a Backwards Party for my daughter when she was 8. A good age for that!Chloe is exactly right. My favorite line from her comment was "...and this time it is all fun and fresh and less responsibility." As my little campers were getting buckled into their carseats to head home, Baby Girl (she's 5) said, "I want to live here all the time, Mimi." And I told her that if she did live here, it would not be Mimi Camp all the time. Her older, wiser sister (age 8) chimed in, "That means no treats from Daddy-O every day."
As a grandmother, I can bend the daily rules. Trust me, Mommy, I try not to break them. But the girls do get some special treatment when they are here. They get jelly on their normally plain peanut butter sandwiches. They stay up later at night. They get to drink pure cranberry juice for breakfast and not the usual, healthier juice/water mix. All the good healthy things they learn at home are stretched a little here. We say these are treats for Mimi's house. At home they go back to the regular rules.
Let me assure Mommy that they do not get unlimited treats despite what they may tell you. They do brush their teeth before bed. They do hear the word "no" every day. They do pick up their toys. They have vegetables at supper every night. We try to limit TV time and monitor what they are watching. It is not a free-for-all when we have them. But, as it should be, the rules are different when they are with us.
I take my role as grandmother very seriously. I feel like my job is to support the parents. To reinforce the values that these children are learning at home. To provide unconditional love for the grandchildren. But also to let grandchildren explore and experience and do things that make colossal messes. We want to have fun with them. To be silly with them. To hug them tightly. To enjoy every minute of this small window of wonder that grandchildren pass through. All too soon, they will reach the stage where the interaction will become, "Hi, Mimi. Bye, Mimi," as they come and go out to be with friends, head off to practice of some sort and do whatever teenagers do.
Make these memories now, grandparents, while these little people still think we are all-wise, all-knowing and completely wonderful!
P.S. I love reading comments from you. I still cannot reply to any of them. I have tried every way I can think of on every device I own. Sometimes I know who you are, and sometimes I only know you from seeing your comments here, like Chloe. Thank you, Chloe, for being a regular commenter. Congratulations to "unknown" who told me she was going to be a first time grandmother in a few weeks. How exciting! And Jane and GoodnightGram and Buttercup and Missy and the other "anonymous" and "unknown" commenters, hello to you, all!
P.P.S. Chloe, what's a backwards party?
