grandparenting 4. Dancing. The younger groups love to dress up and dance. We have a chest of dress-up clothes for both girls and boys and a place to dance to beauti- ful music that matches the mood. There nothing that shows personality more than dancing to great music! 5. Art. I love art, and we have had a great time looking at beautiful classical artwork and then paint- ing our mountains and lake in the style of the artist we have been studying (for example the pointillism of Seurat and the impressionism of Monet and Renoir). 6. Scriptures and Quotes: I compile favorite quotes and scriptures and am amazed at how good the kids are at memorizing them. I like the idea of having those good thoughts rumbling around in their heads throughout their lives. 7. Music. I was a music major in college so in recent years I gathered a list of my favorite classical music and sent it via email to the parents of all the grandkids from ages 5-17 on Spotify (ask your grandkids if you don’t know how to do that). I offered a cash reward for recognizing each composition and another one
if they could name the composer during a contest at Grammie Camp. Money was a terrific incentive and a good investment for a music-loving Grammie who wants her kids to love music! Our first list, which is pretty kid friendly was: 1. Aquarium by Camille Saint Saens 2. Peter and the Wolf by Serei Prokofiev 3. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach 4. Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy 5. Symphony No.9 (Ode to Joy) by Ludwig van Beethoven 6. Spring from the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi 7. Star Wars by John Williams (this was by far, the favorite) 8. Rodeo by Aaron Copland 9. Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky Korsakov 10. Morning Mood by Evard Grieg
8. Ancestor Stories: As discussed in great detail in our column here two issues ago, the value of teach- ing our children about their ancestors is enormous. Knowing stories about the lives of those who came before them gives them resilience and grit. One year, in advance of Grammie Camp, I assigned each of the kids the name of an ancestor to research online (with their parents’ help) at familysearch.com or ancestry. com. Then, each child actually “became” that ances- tor during our time together—dressed up like them and presented what life was like for them when they lived. Of course, through the years, there are also pre- cious one-on-one times spent with each of our grandchildren that neither of us will ever forget but I realize that this group time in Grammie Camps pays real dividends every time I hear from one of our twenty-year-olds reminding me of how our relation- ships with each other were deepened and solidified during those glorious times we spent together at Grammie Camps.
Richard and Linda Eyre’s parenting and life-balance books have reached millions and been translated into a dozen languages. As fellow Baby Boomers, their
passion and their writing focus has now shifted to the joy of Grandparenting. Linda’s latest book is Grandmothering , Richard’s is Being a Proactive grandfather , and their latest co-authored book is Life in Full. All three of these are now on sale on Amazon.
44 GRANDP arenting
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