One of the greatest joys in the life of any senior is their grandchildren! You’ve done the parent thing of being able to have the satisfaction of seeing your children grown into respectable and successful adults! Now you now get to look after their children, spoiling them rotten & then sending them home before they become too much of a handful! Grandchildren can inject a new lease of life, into even the most exhausted of seniors & bring a new meaning to life. You may find yourself taking part in activities that you wouldn’t dream of & visiting places that you wouldn’t normally be caught dead in. But that is the beauty of looking after the young!

Grandchildren can be a handful but do tend to be better behaved for their grandparents than their parents! As you probably have more than enough experience, of raising children then you’re prepared for them, as well as the mind games that come with it. Discussing that first, children have a wonderful habit of trying to wrap certain adults who play an integral role in their upbringing, around their little fingers to try to play them off against one another. In order to avoid the mind games, it may be wise to have a quick chat with your own children, before agreeing to take care of their little ones for the day to see exactly what they’ve been up to. Not only is it delightful to catch up on their progress, this will also alert you to the tricks, that they may try on you. As you weren’t born yesterday, this will fully equip you to deal with their complaints & comments as they come up.

The most important thing when looking after your grandchildren is to establish boundaries immediately. Children usually obey grand parental boundaries because they perceive them as law rather than guidelines for behavior. For some reason, they respect them more & challenge them less than parental boundaries. As a result of this, you should endeavor to follow the rules that their parents have established, in their upbringing thus far. Not only does this reinforce parental authority, it also provides them with continuity & they’ll respect you more for it! It makes their rules less ambiguous and thus they are less likely to utter the phrase “But at grandma’s…” & any other variations of this that you can think of.

None of this is to say that you shouldn’t spoil your grandchildren rotten! After all, that is what grandparents are for! Grandchildren make seniors feel young again & as a thank you they deserve occasional treats. However, using these treats as incentives can help to teach them vital qualities, that they may miss at home. Temper tantrums or sulks can obscure parental teachings, because children have a tendency to block out, anything that they don’t want to hear. Coming from a grandparent bearing treats though it is an entirely different matter!

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Any senior that has a grandchild or grandchildren should feel extremely blessed! There’s nothing better than seeing your own flesh and blood grow into positive and honest human beings, but seniors should never lose sight of the fact, that they are one of the major influences on their grandchildren’s lives. They will actively watch everything you do & copy it so they will pick up any bad habits you have. If you are a positive influence on them then you should take some of the credit for the way they turn out! Above all else though, you should enjoy the time you spend with your grandchildren, because many people never get the chance! Make the most of every second and relive your childhood!