At Grandma's Place

Make your life a little easier.... I really thought that, by the time I became a grandma, my life would be slow, relaxed, maybe a little mundane but certainly tranquil. I had certainly created sweet, though fictional, cameos in the recesses of my mind: of curling up in a cozy little nook to read for hours, cooking fragrant cupcakes and biscuits in my well-designed kitchen and preparing for the occasional visits from grandchildren, pottering around for hours in picturesque craft and novelty shops as I searched for unique and enthralling gifts and crafts.  Ha! Little did I know that this part of my life would become, arguably, my busiest! The role of today's grandparents has changed considerably. Certainly, the only time I manage any reading opportunities is on my iPad. Sometimes I'm able to listen to an audio that I've downloaded from audible.com while driving to one or other of my grown children's homes or their planned events. And yes, I do take time to cook.....

Grandparents of today are a different breed. Gone is the image of the little old grandma seated in a rocking chair on the front porch quietly knitting and watching the world go by. I was reading some interesting statistics about today's grandparents. 75% of those who are grandparents are online. 70% will use search engines to locate information. 63% regularly make purchases online. 46% bank online. 45% are on social media. The information didn't actually list any details about iPad usage but I've read elsewhere that 45% have downloaded 10 or more apps in a year. I know that my iPad is an integral part of my life. I'm rarely without it and it's not just to provide apps to entertain the grandkids, though I have different apps for the different ages of my grandchildren. So, I was questioning just what apps are worthwhile for grandparents today, for the Baby Boomers. The difficulty of course is that there are so many. For almost every situation you can imagi...

I opened the car door and my grandson looked up, kicked his feet excitedly and reached out for me. It's wonderful to be given the opportunity to fill a part of my grandchildren's lives. It's wonderful when they wrap their arms around your neck, put their face against your cheek and give you a big hug. Since I care for them regularly, I like to be prepared and organised when they arrive. As much as possible, I stick with their normal routine and I like to let their parents know how we filled the day, what exciting discoveries they made and the funny things they said or did. On a practical note, I like to make sure that I'm clear about nap times, feeding times and any other individual requirements. I think that it's reassuring to be able to report back about these essentials, too.  So, I've designed a printable sheet that I can fill in with some of these details so that everyone is on the same page and nothing is overlooked in the care of these precious li...