Visits from Grandchildren

by Donna Hruska

So the grandchildren are coming for a visit and you can hardly wait. Don’t let that eager anticipation of their arrival turn into exhausted impatience for their departure. Children, particularly grandchildren, are sweet, beguiling, loveable, and absolutely debilitating if you aren’t prepared.

The secret to enjoying their visit is activity–theirs, not yours. Children are happiest when they are busy and a smart grandma and grandpa will have things to do all lined up before the little ones burst through the front door. To help you in your planning, here are a few tips for entertaining the small set.

YOUNG CHILDREN

1. Collect and save containers of all sizes. No one has yet counted all the uses a child can make of cardboard boxes from the grocery store. Shopping bags, coffee cans with lids, plastic bottles of all shapes and sizes, baskets, anything that will hold something else, including the child himself, will be good for long mornings and afternoons of fun.
2. Have on hand plenty of paper, blunt-edged scissors, crayons, paste, old Christmas cards and magazines. The paper need not be new as long as it has one blank side. To eliminate backaches for grandma, keep all drawing, cutting and pasting activities limited to an old card table set up in the kitchen or on the patio. That way a swish of a broom or flick of a sponge will take care of the snips and drips that are bound to result.
3. Do you have a button box? Little girls can spend hours making necklaces out of buttons strung on elastic thread. A darning needle makes threading easier. If your jewelry maker is small enough to stick herself, dip the end of the thread into some white glue. When it dries it will be stiff enough to go through button holes without a needle.
4. No lady wears her jewelry without fancy clothes to match, so search through the closet for your most outrageous dress-up clothes–glittery purses, a hat with maribou feathers, an out-of-fashion cocktail dress are just the things to match her jewels. Don’t forget the boys. Grandpa’s last year’s golf hat or broken wrist watch can make a man out of a mite in an instant.
5. Both boys and girls love to cook. Remember that their attention span may not last through all the measuring, mixing, cutting and baking of cookies. A cake mix takes just about the right amount of time for small chefs.
6. Every boy is a builder just waiting for the chance to get his hands on some real tools. He’ll never tire of telling how he and grandpa fixed the bathroom faucet or built a new closet shelf, even if his part only consisted of carrying the tools and yard stick. Help him practice his hammering technique by starting a few large nails for him in a chunk of 2X4.
7. If your grandchild is still a member of the diaper set and the curious type, plant something for him to find. He’ll be plundering in your kitchen cabinets anyway, so fill one with things he’s allowed to play with–old pots and pans and toys. Tie the other cabinets shut. He’ll soon understand which cabinet is his.
8. Don’t try to be as quick on your feet as the child’s parents. Use your head, instead. One grandmother we know was exhausted trying to keep up with her eighteen-month-old grandson until she remembered the old fable about belling the cat. She belled the baby and found she saved many steps by following him with her ears rather than her feet.

OLDER CHILDREN

The older your grandchildren are, the less content they are going to be staying at home. Teenagers, particularly, feel they have to be out and going. This is a good time to visit some of those local attractions that you’ve been meaning to see, but haven’t gotten around to. Again, advance planning will save you time and money.

1. There is much free entertainment in every community. Zoos, museums, parks, and beaches, even if they charge admission, usually have at least one free day a week. Shopping centers often have free programs to attract shoppers–art fairs, concerts and plays by drama groups. These and other programs will be announced in the local papers, so read them carefully the weeks before the visit.
2. For a nominal fee there are swimming pools and movies. Don’t forget about local fund-raising affairs. Pancake breakfasts and spaghetti suppers provide a direct route to any child’s heart, and don’t get the idea that it’s only grandmas who love to play Bingo. Children are tantalized by the chance to win a prize, too.
3. If there are local attractions like Disneyland that everyone who comes to your town visits, you’ll not want your guests to miss them, but plan a sensible itinerary. Don’t try to see everything in one day; use every chance to conserve your energy. Sit down while the kids stand in those long lines. Frequent stops for sodas and coffee will not only increase your stamina, they’ll win you lots of good granny points with the young generation.
4. Teenagers sometimes offer a particular problem because they want to be off on their own. As responsible grandparents you hesitate to turn them loose. One solution is to find a friend their age among your neighbors. Introduce them, perhaps plan one supervised outing and let them take it from there, always, of course, keeping track of where they are going and who they’ll be with.

With a little planning and preparation, visits at grandma and grandpa’s will become so popular you’ll have to put in an advance reservation system. What’s more, no one will have a better time than you.