The gift of Grandparents.

   How important are grandparents in kids' lives? My answer, VERY. We are blessed in that Daddy's parents are very involved in Monkeys' lives. They see the kids often, take interest in their interest, love spending time with them, play with them, and even share information and older stories with them. My Monkeys love spending time with Grandma and Gramps. They get excited when we go over to their place, or when one or both grandparents come and visit. They love sharing their activities with their Grandparents, and they always find it special when Grandparents come to watch their soccer game, or their dance recital, or any other activity that they are involved in. I love that they have such a great relationship with Daddy's parents.

Grandma and Little Monkey

   But Daddy's parents are not just great at being in Monkeys' lives but also at looking after them when we couldn't do it alone. I realized that the last few weeks when I had all these doctor's appointments, and blood tests, and parent viewing days. Grandma was always eager to look after the Monkeys when I needed to go somewhere alone or at least without all of them. She has been a kind of a life saver for me. Being pregnant with fourth means that you have to juggle a bit more with schedule and responsibilities, and I am learning to rely on other people. I am very glad that I can rely on Daddy's parents for all the help and support. It makes it all the better that Grandma and Gramps really want to be with their grandkids (not only my Monkeys but their other grandson too). I always feel like I am leaving my kids in a really good hands, and I usually hear about how much fun they had together when I return.

Gramps on baby duty

   When I was growing up I missed out on having Grandparents for most of my life. When we were in Poland (for the first 9 years of my life) I did have a good relationship with my maternal Grandmother. As a matter of fact, I really liked spending time with her, and once, while my mother went to visit my father, we stayed with my Grandma for 2 weeks. She is a great lady and we had lots of fun staying with her. My sister and I still remember the things that we learned from her. She also had great stories to tell us, and we loved hearing those too. My paternal Grandparents were never much in our lives. I think that a lot of it had to do with my mother not really liking them.

At dance show

   When I went back to Poland to visit, about 15 years ago, I had the pleasure to stay with my maternal grandmother. We had lots of fun looking at old pictures and I loved hearing about her family, and how my mother and her siblings grew up, and about my Grandfather (he passed away when I was just a little girl, so I never got a real chance to know him). I also had a chance to visit with my paternal grandparents, and then I had a chance to spend some more one on one time with just my grandmother. I have to say that I really liked the deep conversation I had with my father's Mother. She was a lovely lady and I am sorry that I didn't ever have a chance to spend more time with her. I think that I would have liked to spend more time with her and learn more about her. Unfortunately, both my paternal grandparents passed away few years back, so my mother's mom is the only one of my grandparents that is still alive.

Mini golf with kids

   One thing that I realized over the years is that I missed out on having grandparents. There is so much that a child learns from having grandparents. But I am lucky to have married a man who has a wonderful grandparents on both sides, and I sort of adopted them (or should I say that they sort of adopted me). Having them in my life filled a void that not having my grandparents close by left in my life. I love spending time talking to Daddy's grandparents, and I think that they are really great people. Nobody will ever replace my biological grandparents, but I am so very lucky to have Daddy's grandparents in my life. I always look forward to coming for dinner, or having them over. As a matter of fact, even my sister loves talking with them and she finds them to be very likable.

   One thing that I am very mindful of is encouraging Monkeys to have a relationship with their grandparents as long as the grandparents want to be in their lives. We are lucky that Daddy's parents love being grandparents and take pride in it. For as long as that is the case I will do everything in my power to foster that relationship and give Monkeys something that I almost missed out on complexly.