Thought for today:
"The love of a grandma knows no bounds; every house and family needs one. She is the one reliable babysitter who watches the children and not television in your absence. She listens and hears every word her grandchildren speaks and despite her advancing years she never forgets their birthdays, school parties and and other important occasions in their daily life. Like a fairy godmother, granny sprinkles stardusts on their lives. She is in short, the mum they will never have; and often sadly, the mum their mum didn't have either!
I have long held the view that a good grandma is a mother with a second chance who takes it. The role is one that is rarely considered until it comes around. A mum works jolly hard bringing her children up to be good citizens instead of axe murderers and just when she sees them grown up, married and in their own home and thinks her work to be done, she becomes a grandmother. She soon finds great pleasure doing those things with her grandchildren that she never found time to do with her own as often and as well as she would have liked, and is not slow to spot her 'second chance as a mother to get it right this time!'
In the main, it is highly unlikely and bordering on the edge of impossibility for any grandchild not to like their grandmother. They know upon which side their bread is buttered. In grandma's kitchen, kids eat free and messily without reproach and the clever ones are very quick to cotton on how to use grandma as a bargaining tool in their bid to wheedle this or that out of mum and dad.
I recall when first married, taking my two children James and Adam down to my parents' house on a Sunday afternoon. I suspect that as my parents weren't really her type of people, that is why my wife would more often than not excuse herself from visiting with us. My ex-wife who was what we'd know today as a 'foodie' was always concerned what fed their stomachs instead of what filled their heart and head. I can still hear her say, 'And don't let your parents stuff them with biscuits!'
One of the things about all children is that they love getting one over on stuffy adults. James and Adam were no exception and took every Sunday opportunity to 'tuck in' outside their mum's presence. My father and mother who came from Irish homes, had this perculiar habit of buttering biscuits and then after sprinkling them with sugar, offering them as a treat to James and Adam. The children loved their secret Sunday treat to bits and to tell the truth, at the time I was probably less concerned about the health implications of this Irish practice than getting one over on their mother also!
In grandma's kitchen, James and Adam knew that they could aways eat free and without parental oversight. They also knew that the day they were born, that was the day that their grandma came into their lives." William Forde: October 3rd, 2015.
"The love of a grandma knows no bounds; every house and family needs one. She is the one reliable babysitter who watches the children and not television in your absence. She listens and hears every word her grandchildren speaks and despite her advancing years she never forgets their birthdays, school parties and and other important occasions in their daily life. Like a fairy godmother, granny sprinkles stardusts on their lives. She is in short, the mum they will never have; and often sadly, the mum their mum didn't have either!
I have long held the view that a good grandma is a mother with a second chance who takes it. The role is one that is rarely considered until it comes around. A mum works jolly hard bringing her children up to be good citizens instead of axe murderers and just when she sees them grown up, married and in their own home and thinks her work to be done, she becomes a grandmother. She soon finds great pleasure doing those things with her grandchildren that she never found time to do with her own as often and as well as she would have liked, and is not slow to spot her 'second chance as a mother to get it right this time!'
In the main, it is highly unlikely and bordering on the edge of impossibility for any grandchild not to like their grandmother. They know upon which side their bread is buttered. In grandma's kitchen, kids eat free and messily without reproach and the clever ones are very quick to cotton on how to use grandma as a bargaining tool in their bid to wheedle this or that out of mum and dad.
I recall when first married, taking my two children James and Adam down to my parents' house on a Sunday afternoon. I suspect that as my parents weren't really her type of people, that is why my wife would more often than not excuse herself from visiting with us. My ex-wife who was what we'd know today as a 'foodie' was always concerned what fed their stomachs instead of what filled their heart and head. I can still hear her say, 'And don't let your parents stuff them with biscuits!'
One of the things about all children is that they love getting one over on stuffy adults. James and Adam were no exception and took every Sunday opportunity to 'tuck in' outside their mum's presence. My father and mother who came from Irish homes, had this perculiar habit of buttering biscuits and then after sprinkling them with sugar, offering them as a treat to James and Adam. The children loved their secret Sunday treat to bits and to tell the truth, at the time I was probably less concerned about the health implications of this Irish practice than getting one over on their mother also!
In grandma's kitchen, James and Adam knew that they could aways eat free and without parental oversight. They also knew that the day they were born, that was the day that their grandma came into their lives." William Forde: October 3rd, 2015.
