Close by or far away Grandparents (kids, old, grandkids, month)
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Last night I was talking with my youngest daughter, and it came up once more how stressful it sometimes is that we live so far apart. We agreed that we'd make various kinds of efforts to see and reach out more, and not stress out about the "perfect" meeting.
Hey, Otr..I always thought you were one of the young ones of cd I have 3 daughters and a son..The son lives about 5 hours away(he has 2 kids who live with their mother about 4 hours in the other direction My three girls all live very close and we see each other almost every day..The five grandchildren all claim my home as theirs, and have all had to live with me at one time or another. We all even live in the same school district so the kids just get off here..2 of the girls work nights at the hospital.. They have never had to hire a sitter..
Hey, Otr..I always thought you were one of the young ones of cd I have 3 daughters and a son..The son lives about 5 hours away(he has 2 kids who live with their mother about 4 hours in the other direction My three girls all live very close and we see each other almost every day..The five grandchildren all claim my home as theirs, and have all had to live with me at one time or another. We all even live in the same school district so the kids just get off here..2 of the girls work nights at the hospital.. They have never had to hire a sitter..
Our daughter is an RN and we (really the wife) keep our three grandkids three to four days a week..24 hours a day.
I agree it is hard being a distant grandparent, but it makes the time we have with our grandchildren more special. I love to do small things with them like take a walk go to a special room and tell secrets. It makes out time so good.
Welcome to the forum and cd, Miss camp..You are right about doing the small things that count..My older grandchildren talk about the things we did together, like my made up stories, teaching them to swim in the small above ground pool , watching the dog have pups, and the times we wandered around the mountains all day collecting leaves for their science projects Quality time, in todays world many children are missing out of the quality time..
I grew up 1000 miles away from my grandparents, and it's sad. Most of them are still alive (my mother's stepmother passed away several years ago and my father's father has never been in the picture for either of our lives) and kicking- literally- but I don't particularly have a close relationship with them. I email my mom's dad regularly even though I don't live too far away from him for college. It's exceptionally hard to visit my family though because even though I'm only about 45 minutes away driving, it turns into a 3 to 4 hour extravaganza each way to get to them- which I just CANNOT do as a college student with an overloaded schedule and a job. I don't trust any of them enough to drive all the way down here safely so they don't visit.
In some ways, it was good growing up away from them. My mom has a distinctly different view of raising children than either sets of her parents (and step parents) did, so it was easier to raise us away and not have the grandparents "babysit" us all the time. Similarly, I don't think I'd ever live near enough to my mother to have her do the same with my future children either. I'm close to my grandparents in my own way... and was even close to my great grandmother until her Alzheimers got really bad.
Long distance: I only get to see them once a month
Challenges:My kids say they have to deprogram my grand after she leaves my home because she get's too lax when she's here; (sound like a robot or computer"deprogramming)
Well......
I'm a long distance grand parent and it's difficult. My g-son is 18 months now, he has been living in Japan since my son has been stationed there, and I have only seen him once for about a month. That was when my DIL came to the US, for the first time since she is from China, and spent a month with me while my son was in Iraq. They are currently in the process of moving to SC which will be closer but still difficult to spend any real quality time. I wish I had the means so that I could spend time with my son and his family, but we all must work to make ends meet. I hope to either go to SC next year and/or maybe they could come and visit for a bit. It's hard, but I talk to them about 2-4 times a month and they send me pics and video's. Life is short, no matter how you look at it, and I wish I could spend more time with all of my son's, but that is not possible. We all just do the best that we can and I hope that in the future I will be able to spend more time with my current g-son and any others that may follow.
My parents are long distance - my daughter (their oldest grandchild) and two of my nieces live here, while they live there. It's very hard on my mother. We see her about once a month, as she has to come to town for business matters, but don't see my dad very often. My mom and daughter are VERY close, and my daughter spends most of her summer with them. My parents just moved out of town about 6 years ago, and it's getting easier, but it's still not what it was when they lived here!
Last edited by MSJones; 11-30-2007 at 12:07 PM..
Reason: Spelling
I have been lucky to have my grandsons live close by and my husband treated them like they were his own grandsons. We had them over a lot on the weekends from the time they were babies. My husband's grandkids came over sometime but due to their having other grandparents we didn't see them as much.
Now my grandsons are teenagers and my husband has passed away, but they still like to come over and chill out at Grannie's house although not as much as when they were younger.
My LH taught them to ride a bike, let them earn money by doing chores around the house. They knew what each chore was worth so they would make just enough to go to the store to buy a toy.
I still hear from my other grandkids but not that often. I moved out of state to be near my daughter 6 months after she moved since I was alone.
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I have 3 daughters and a son..The son lives about 5 hours away(he has 2 kids who live with their mother about 4 hours in the other direction
My three girls all live very close and we see each other almost every day..The five grandchildren all claim my home as theirs, and have all had to live with me at one time or another. We all even live in the same school district so the kids just get off here..2 of the girls work nights at the hospital.. They have never had to hire a sitter..
Quality time, in todays world many children are missing out of the quality time..
