July 15th, 2008 Playing with Granny Posted by Melitsa in Articles, play activities

My children will be lucky enough to have their granny here to stay for an extended stay this year. We don’t live near either set of grand parents so it’s always a great cause for celebration when we can visit either set or they visit us.

Granny plays with the kids in a different way than I do and similar ways too. It’s great to see another way of doing things with the same old stuff we have here. She has all these ideas to try and gets right into the play. She’ s much better at distracting the toddler and redirecting the big guy who’s developed a huge appetite for bingo and snakes and ladders.

Since she’s retired she’s able to spend an extended time here but she’s away from husband, home and her normal everyday life. Grannies really are special.

Then I read this report
Grannies fight back: Let me be a grandmother, not an unpaid childminder and wondered if as a generation we take too much of an advantage of them.
Our Granny is fit and well enough to come stay and play when the rest of us are flagging. She can whip up a great meal from the measly contents of the cupboard in minutes and still remember songs I’ve forgotten from my childhood. She has this never ending patience that we, mum and dad, run out of come the evening but never slows like recently helping both kids plant out a garden.

For more ideas about planning a garden with kids listen to this great podcast from my friend Cara of the Household Helper.

The boys are loving her here.

So am I.
The big difference between us and this article is distance. We can’t take advantage of her even if we’d wish to as we live on different continents. I totally see the catch 22 of families that work outside the home and needing to rely more on Grandparents.

Although sometimes grandparents seem to get the raw end of the stick with children dumped on them- because there’s no one else etc they are great resource……..well, usually, for the family.

The big guy has 100 questions it seems for her everyday about her house, job, garden, weather, what’s Grandad doing? etc
The play they have between them is different. The cuddles they share special. The things they allow them to do…..sometimes scary but totally safe.

Whilst they are often seen as just a childminding service- sometimes we have to encourage them and remind ourselves to just let them be Granny.

Melitsa Avila is a former teacher, mother of three boys and military wife who talks about living an intentional play lifestyle using practical and everyday play activities to do with the under 5s. She publishes related ebooks & newsletters. Melitsa is the host and producer of a weekly Early Childhood radio show: Raising Playful Tots bringing parents and carers together with Early childhood practitioners. Thanks for reading!

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