Grandparenting

I never dreamed about being a grandparent. I always wanted to be a wife and a mom, but I never thought about what it would truly be like to be a grandparent. Once when my children were younger, and there were only five then, they told me they would each have five and I would have 25 grandchildren. They joked about how I would have to line them all up in sleeping bags across my library floor when they all slept over. That was the only thought I had about it. I never thought about it in reality.

My first grandson was born when my youngest was almost seven months old. I was so busy with my own baby, it was hard to truly grandparent. I had my own baby to hold. She was a month early, so tiny and petite, so unexpected. She was my gift, my precious one. I was so enraptured by her that I am sure I didn't totally get the whole experience of first time grandparenting.

My grandchildren continued to arrive  almost every year after that. If there was a break for a year, I got two the next year. I have fifteen age twelve and under. I have ten granddaughters and five grandsons. Two of my grandsons were born this year. I am truly blessed with lots of little ones. Six of them call me Grandma and nine of them call me Oma.

They all seem to love to come and visit and we do lots of things with them. I usually have special snacks for them and do meals they like. I try to make it special for them. But the best thing I did for them was to have my last two children. My younger two daughters are the real reason they love to come to Grandma's. They love their Auntie Mandy and their Naynay.

Naynay is closest to their age and she plays with them. They adore her. They nag her, call to her, beg her, and generally just want to be with her. They love her and she is great with them. They often look for her first when they get here. Mandy reads to them and plays with them, too.

I never thought what it would be like to be a grandparent so I didn't know how much fun it could be. Or how exhausting it could be because there are so many. One weekend in April, we had ten of them overnight. Ten under eight years old! I am not sure if we would have had as much fun if I wouldn't have had my younger daughters here to help and make it fun. We divide the duties, the activities, and sometimes the kids. We work together to make it work. We help the kids get along and enjoy each other. It is a great team effort!

Grandparenting is so different for us than it was for my parents or my grandparents. All of them were basically retired as they grand-parented our children. They had more leisure time and were more able to be there at different times. They had less commitments than we do. And they were not still parenting at the same time. I still need to be a parent first to my girls at home, especially as I am still homeschooling one. Sometimes that presents a conflict in my time with my married children and grandchildren. I haven't always figured it all out and I know I haven't done it all right. I want to be there for all of them, but the balance is hard at times. It is hard to prioritize when I love them all. I try to say yes as often as I can to babysitting, but once in a while I just have to say no. I try hard to make it work.

Our grandparenting may not be excellent, but we love all of them and are glad to know them as well as we do. We are blessed to get to spend time with them often. We are glad to be part of their lives. We are particularly blessed to have two daughters at home who love the kids and show it so well. They have made being a grandparent so much easier. I have to admit sometimes I get jealous when some of the kids come and I never see them because they are so busy with their aunts. But truly I recognize how God knew best when he blessed us with our last two unplanned children because only He could have known how they would bless the nest generation, too.

Being a grandparent is fun, rewarding, and sometimes tiring. It is truly a joy to see your children parent and it is another chance to love on little ones. I didn't dream about it. I didn't plan for it. But it is here and I am glad to share this time with Grandpa (Opa) and the aunts at home. It is another joy God has put in my heart.