Margaret Sarver

Margaret Sarver, Kansas City Parent Magazine EditorEditor of Kansas City Parent Magazine and Kansas City Baby Magazine, Margaret Sarver, enjoys the joys and challenges of raising two daughters. A former elementary school teacher, she currently spends her days at play group, swim lessons, soccer games and leading Daisy Scout meetings. Her favorite TV show is "The Office" and her favorite movie is "The Shawshank Redemption". In addition to being a busy mom and wife, Margaret enjoys reading, trying new restaurants, traveling, attending concerts and weekly date night with her husband, Ty.


Follow the Kansas City Mom Blogs on your iGoogle Homepage or in iGoogle Reader!

Add to Google

Go Back

Why Grandparents are MORE FUN

            Do the grandparents in your children’s lives spoil them?  My girls are fortunate to have both sets of grandparents living and in good health. And so we have lots of spoiling that occurs.

We just returned from a week with my family. After a full week at Grandma and Grandpa’s I have a lot of “reprogramming” to do. When they were younger I would try to keep my girls on a schedule and limit the things that my parents gave them. But now, I’ve decided, what the heck. It gives my parents great joy to spend time spoiling their grandkids and after having to put up with me and my five brothers and sisters, they’ve earned the right. Also, as the girls get older, they understand that certain things that happen at Grandma and Grandpa’s (soda at every meal) don’t happen at home.

Things are much more fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s and this is just a partial list of why…

 

            Bedtimes are not enforced

            Want ice cream for breakfast? OK!

            You don’t like dinner? I’ll fix something else.

            TV anytime you ask for it

            Would you like a cupcake to go with that ice cream?

            Those completely non-practical shoes mom won’t buy-Grandma will!

            Arriving presents

            Going home presents

            Make-up, nail polish and perfume, with no rules attached

 

I could go on and on. My four-year-old came into the basement while we were at my folks and said, “I really like it when you are gone. Things are more fun when you are not here.” I guess that’s my job as mom, fun-spoiler. I’ll have my revenge one day when they have children and I am a grandma!

share this: Facebook DZone It! Digg It! StumbleUpon Technorati Del.icio.us NewsVine Reddit Blinklist Furl it!

Comments  3

  • Amber H 3 Jul, 11:25 PM

    Wow, I can totally relate to that.  At 1 and 2 1/2 my kids already think Grandma and Papa are the best!  We have a few ground rules that grandparents are requied to abide by, but for the most part, we have learned that grandparents are made to spoil kids.

    Because my kids are the only gandkids on both sides, and both sets of grandparents live in the area, we see the grandparents a lot, so too much spoiling can be a problem.  
  • Julie Johnson 6 Jul, 12:24 AM

    A few years ago for christmas my mother made a homemade book on the adventures of Grandma & Grandpa.  A copy was given to each grandchild.  My children love to read the book  and when they visit thier grandparents the get more details on stories in the book.  Every year Grandma adds a new page to the book.  My children can hardly wait to see what new adventures grandma & grandpa have had.
  • Melissa Unruh 19 Jul, 07:34 AM

    The reason I think Grandparents really enjoy their role is that they see things from a different perspective. I think Grandparents maybe realize what all us Mom's don't, that time is short with your kids. They all too quickly grow up. So Grandparents feel like it's their role to do all the fun things that they never were able to do with their kids because they were too busy "parenting" their kids. We are blessed to have both Grandparents involved with our son and it really makes all the difference. I'm surprised at how much wisdom Grandparents actually have, you know they have gone down this road before...although in a different time when things were different, but then again some things never change!! We just sent my 4 year old to his first ever week of "Nana Camp". I know the 4 year old I knew will not come back the same, but I also hope that he'll bring back a mind full of memories spent with his Grandparents just having fun. Maybe I should do that more often instead of worrying about all the daily chores of being a parent!!
Post a comment!
  1. Formatting options