One of my favorite childhood memories ( i was a child over 50 years ago) was spending time with my grandparents, and today, I feel so thankful to God for that. Not only I got to hear pre-war stories from them, but we also played games, and it was a memory I will take with me to the grave.
Only when kids spend time with their grandfather and grandmother will they get to know that they act as stress buffers, an arbitrator, guardians, supporters, and roots of the family. The relationship that grandparents have with their grandkids is a distinctive emotional bond, truly one of its kind. The comfort that our parents get from our grandparents sometimes goes unnoticed and occasionally unappreciated as well.
Support, if you live far from your parents because of work or other reasons, your children somehow don’t get time to bond with their grandparents. In that case, the following are the tips on how you can help your children in maintaining a healthy long-distance relationship with your parents
Let’s explore them in the sections below:
- Make your visits a routine: If you live in the same city, make sure that you take your kids to visit them more often and in case you live in some other country or town, then plan to visit them during winter holidays or during long weekends. Other than this, you can also encourage their grandparents to plan holidays for an extended stay at your home. Give them a relaxing time at your home while they are visiting you, and it will become a routine for them as well. This is a huge blessing for your kids, as having grandparents around is genuinely a stressbuster.
- Technology makes staying in touch more manageable: With technological advances, keeping in touch has become very comfortable. You can make your children Skype, FaceTime, Skype or Video call with their grandparents by fixing special days and time in a week so that children have something to look forward to. Besides these, kids can exchange Whatsapp images, e-mails, voice notes (including bedtime rhymes and stories) or texts with their grandparents.
- Keep Surprising them when they least expect it: Grandparents love spoiling their grandkids through extra-pampering. Every time they go to meet them, they make sure to amaze them with gifts. What you can do differently is rather than gifting them on the usual occasion, surprise them by giving gifts through mails un-occasionally. Top gifting options are sending their favorite gadget, cookies, a collage of nostalgic pictures or it can also be a simple letter. This way, they will feel more loved and connected.
- More intimate communication: Encourage your kid to spend one-on-one time with grandma in the kitchen by helping her while she is preparing some secret family recipe, which will help the conversation flow more freely. The kid can spend time with their grandfather while he is reading a newspaper. This is how a learning experience starts for kids. Besides this, asking grandmother to read fairytales will lead to some meaningful conversation, sometimes even genuinely enlightening.
- Relationship: Grandparents act as a bridge between the children and their parents. Parents have so much of the stress of doing everything and making children learn everything correctly. The struggle of being the best parents starts from making their children learn how to walk, talk, behave, etc. As grandparents, you can teach your grandkids without any responsibility of being perfect at parenting. This way, you can act as their companion and guide them the right track with every proper step; for instance, they teach them how to face conflicts and be confident in their hobbies.
Final word:
Grandparents have their life experiences to share in the form of stories. Moreover, they are the warehouse of beautiful inspiring stories which no child should be denied. Such nostalgic, I feel right now as I miss my grandparents while entering the grandparents’ age! What is your greatest memory from your childhood of your grandparents?
