Four daughters, three mothers, two grandmothers and one great-grandmother. Immeasurable amounts of love.
Showing posts with label grandparents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grandparents. Show all posts
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!
Four daughters, three mothers, two grandmothers and one great-grandmother. Immeasurable amounts of love.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Generations of Mothers
I discovered this morning that Blue Tooth and my 90 year-old grandmother do not make a very good combination. I think I have had better success on the phone with her without the hands-free, and I shouldn't have added the headset because she really couldn't hear me this morning. But I wanted to call her to tell her that I love her, and if all goes well she will be able to look at this post today when my mom arrives to visit her. I am so lucky to have grandparents with whom I have a close relationship and who know my daughter, and she is so lucky to have a connection to all of her grandparents and her great-grandparents. Even though I have lost my grandfathers, I am extremely grateful that they were able to meet Adelaide and that she was able to meet and spend time with them.
A look back at some of our visits, first July 2004:
August 2005:
July 2006:
March 2007:
And a look even further back, September 1973 (Paige, Christine and David):
1955 (Adelaide, Paige, Joanne and Lucy):
Not sure of the date, but around 1915 (Howard Mayhew and Analou McCracken Mayhew, Adelaide Mayhew's parents):
1922 (Adelaide Roach McCracken and her grandchildren, Joe and Adelaide Mayhew):
A look back at some of our visits, first July 2004:
August 2005:
July 2006:
March 2007:
And a look even further back, September 1973 (Paige, Christine and David):
1955 (Adelaide, Paige, Joanne and Lucy):
Not sure of the date, but around 1915 (Howard Mayhew and Analou McCracken Mayhew, Adelaide Mayhew's parents):
1922 (Adelaide Roach McCracken and her grandchildren, Joe and Adelaide Mayhew):
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Spring Break Highlights, Day Four
Adelaide's teacher sent home a homework packet for the break which included some journal pages to fill out and return. Adelaide was excited to sit down and document her spring break as of today, the 4th day without school. Here are the highlights from her point of view:
Grandma got top priority (first page). I couldn't agree more.
Dorothy, class hamster, who came home with us.
Birthday presents, also good but not as good as grandmas and pets.
Good Food! Yes! Adelaide made dinner for Paige and I the last night she was here. Pretty impressive given that she is only allowed a butter knife.
And to think, we have five more days to enjoy. Love vacation.
Grandma got top priority (first page). I couldn't agree more.
Dorothy, class hamster, who came home with us.
Birthday presents, also good but not as good as grandmas and pets.
Good Food! Yes! Adelaide made dinner for Paige and I the last night she was here. Pretty impressive given that she is only allowed a butter knife.
And to think, we have five more days to enjoy. Love vacation.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Home Again, Home Again
We've returned from a ten-day trip to see the grandparents in Milwaukee. Much fun was had by all, and highlights were documented and appear in this video:
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Grandparents
I stumbled on this parenting site today and am curious to see if the model they are using works. They are linking with parent bloggers out there on parenting topics, this particular one being how to deal with grandparents.
I've heard some pretty amusing stories of grandparents seeming to have lost touch entirely with their parenting skills by the time their kids have offspring. From indulging them with sugary treats and overloading them with toys and gifts to saying "they wanted to" as a reason for jumping on the furniture, some grandparents seem to have thrown their judgment out the window when it comes to their new little darlings. But I think there is a certain natural flow from parent to grandparent that allows for more indulgences, and it is part of the bonding between grandchild and grandparent.
In our family's case, seeing the grandparents is a big treat for all of us, because they live far away and so it requires a plane trip for us or them to get together. We are lucky, too, that our parents respect the choices we have made as parents and do their best to follow our rules when they are spending time with Adelaide. But I think it goes both ways, because I am able to be more relaxed about what is and isn't okay when the grandparents are in charge because it is really a treat, and Adelaide knows that. I agree with the conclusions this video clip comes to for the most part, but for parents that are relying on a grandma for fairly consistent babysitting I do think that having a conversation and laying some ground rules is important. In the case of parents and grandparents whose styles differ in the extreme, the parents need to choose their battles and come to an agreement with the grandparents on what things simply aren't acceptable. As a mom you have to play the bad cop all the time with the kids, so suck it up and talk to your mom or mother-in-law about the ice cream for breakfast. Kids certainly can learn that there are different rules with grandma than with mom, but for grandma's sake I think it's better if her rules don't clash with your big-picture family choices.
I was a nanny for a family in Germany who hired me to give Grandma some relief. She basically could no longer handle the 3 1/2 year-old son for more than a half day, because she was unable to set any boundaries with him. Of course, in this case her choices were similar to the parents (his mom once came home and gleefully announced that the boy had eaten 3 ice cream cones, wasn't he so amazing), but as an outsider to the family I could see that they were creating a little monster by indulging this kid's every whim. The video talks about the benefits of the child getting in touch with the family heritage by spending time with grandma, but shouldn't they also be given the opportunity to respect grandma?
More parenting videos on JuiceBoxJungle
I've heard some pretty amusing stories of grandparents seeming to have lost touch entirely with their parenting skills by the time their kids have offspring. From indulging them with sugary treats and overloading them with toys and gifts to saying "they wanted to" as a reason for jumping on the furniture, some grandparents seem to have thrown their judgment out the window when it comes to their new little darlings. But I think there is a certain natural flow from parent to grandparent that allows for more indulgences, and it is part of the bonding between grandchild and grandparent.
In our family's case, seeing the grandparents is a big treat for all of us, because they live far away and so it requires a plane trip for us or them to get together. We are lucky, too, that our parents respect the choices we have made as parents and do their best to follow our rules when they are spending time with Adelaide. But I think it goes both ways, because I am able to be more relaxed about what is and isn't okay when the grandparents are in charge because it is really a treat, and Adelaide knows that. I agree with the conclusions this video clip comes to for the most part, but for parents that are relying on a grandma for fairly consistent babysitting I do think that having a conversation and laying some ground rules is important. In the case of parents and grandparents whose styles differ in the extreme, the parents need to choose their battles and come to an agreement with the grandparents on what things simply aren't acceptable. As a mom you have to play the bad cop all the time with the kids, so suck it up and talk to your mom or mother-in-law about the ice cream for breakfast. Kids certainly can learn that there are different rules with grandma than with mom, but for grandma's sake I think it's better if her rules don't clash with your big-picture family choices.
I was a nanny for a family in Germany who hired me to give Grandma some relief. She basically could no longer handle the 3 1/2 year-old son for more than a half day, because she was unable to set any boundaries with him. Of course, in this case her choices were similar to the parents (his mom once came home and gleefully announced that the boy had eaten 3 ice cream cones, wasn't he so amazing), but as an outsider to the family I could see that they were creating a little monster by indulging this kid's every whim. The video talks about the benefits of the child getting in touch with the family heritage by spending time with grandma, but shouldn't they also be given the opportunity to respect grandma?
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