One of my favorite childhood memories was spending time with my grandparents and today I am very grateful to God for that. Not only was I able to play with them, but I was also able to listen to new bedtime stories every night.
Only when little ones spend time with their grandmother and grandfather will they know that they are acting as arbiters, stress buffers, supporters, guardians, and roots of the family. The bond that grandparents have with their grandchildren is a special emotional bond that is one of a kind. The support that our parents receive from grandparents sometimes goes unnoticed and sometimes is not appreciated either.
So if you live away from your parents for work or other reasons and your children somehow don’t have time to bond with their grandparents. Then here are some tips on how you can help your children maintain a healthy long-distance relationship with their grandfather and grandmother.
Let’s go to them one by one.
1) Make your visits frequent
If you live in the same city, be sure to take your children to visit their grandmother and grandfather more often and, in case you live in another city or country, plan to visit them during the summer holidays or during the long weekends . Apart from this, you can also encourage your grandparents to plan visits or an extended stay at your home.
2) Technology makes staying in touch easier
With the advancement of technology, staying in touch has become very easy. You can have your children FaceTime, Skype, or video calls with their grandmother and grandfather by setting particular days and times in a week so that the children have something to look forward to. In addition to these, children can exchange emails, pictures, voice notes (including bedtime stories and rhymes), or text messages with their grandmother and grandfather.
3) Surprise them when they least expect it
Grandparents love to pamper their grandchildren. Every time they visit, they make sure to surprise them with gifts. What you can do differently is instead of giving them gifts on the usual occasion, surprise them by sending them gifts through the post office not occasionally. The best gift options are to send cookies, your favorite device, a collage of images, or it could just be a letter. This way they will feel more connected and loved.
4) More one-to-one communication
When grandchildren or grandparents visit, encourage your child to spend time alone with Grandma in the kitchen by helping her as she prepares a family recipe, as this will help the conversation flow more freely.
Also, asking grandpa to read stories will lead to meaningful, sometimes even enlightening conversation.
5) Friendly relationship
Grandparents act as a bridge between parents and children. Parents have a lot of pressure to do everything and make children learn everything perfectly. The pressure to be the best parents begins with making your children learn to talk, walk, behave, etc. As grandparents, you can teach your grandchildren without the burden of being a perfect parent. In this way you can act as their friend and guide them in the right way with each correct step, for example, in their hobbies, teach them how to face competition and how to be positive.
Final word:
Grandma and Grandpa have their experiences to tell in the form of stories. In addition, they are the storehouse of beautiful inspiring life stories that no child should be denied. How nostalgic, I feel right now! What is your strongest childhood memory of your grandparents?