grandparenting
Grammie camps – quality time
creates quality relationships
BY LINDA EYRE L ooking back over my twenty plus years of Grandmothering, I’ve realized that the best investment of my time, and the most fun I’ve had with our grandchildren has been through what I have called Grammie Camps. They have become a way to create lasting relationships and treasured memories with our grandchildren. In preface, I must say that every grandparent/grand- child relationship and situation is different. I’m pretty sure not many readers will have thirty grandchildren who live from Zurich and London to New York City and Hawaii—and because they are so spread out, I try to cram in a lot during the two weeks we are all together each summer, and the key to it all is Grammie Camps! The kids are invited to come to Grammie Camp the year they turn five and we look forward to those times together all year. I have tried a lot of ideas to make our time together memorable. If you’re up for it, pick and choose from the smorgasbord of ideas below that might fit the needs and ages of your own grandchildren. Or even better, use some of these suggestions as a springboard to create your own ideas, depending on your circumstances.
manifest themselves. The talent ranges from great piano and violin solos to amazing demonstrations of the use of the Kendama and the putting together a Rubik’s Cube in one minute flat! 3. Work. In today’s world, work for children is often a forgotten art. I come from a long line of hard-work- ing farmers whose children had to work to survive. Luckily our summer place always has plentiful weeds. I have loved teaching the kids to feel the satisfaction of making an area of the earth more beautiful by clear- ing the weeds. Of course, some ice cream at the end of a project is nice but the satisfaction of doing some- thing hard with their cousins is the best reward.
Here are a few things that have worked for me: 1. “Happys” and “Sads”. Even our oldest grand- children like to share the happiest and saddest things that have happened to them since the last time we met. We learn a lot about each child as they share hard and good things that have transpired in their lives. There is real empathy as well as rejoicing as they share both the fun and the hard things in their lives. 2. Talent Show. For years the “talent” was pretty marginal, but as the years passed, unique abilities
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