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I'm my grandparent's first grandchild and the best thing my grandparents have done is to teach me a bunch of things and tell me a bunch of stories that my parents were too busy to do.
My favorite childhood memories are doing things with my great grandma, like having tea parties, ironing, and baking experiments (I was a weird kid, I liked ironing and eating vegetables haha).
While I was in college I noticed people would always ask me questions like "Where did you learn how to bake/sew/check your oil/can vegetables/fish/garden/swing dance?" and the answer was always the same, either my grandma, grandpa, or one of my two great grandmas. I never would've picked any of that stuff up at my parent's house.
In today's busy world where parents often work long hours, or sometimes it's a single parent home, I just feel like engaged grandparents are the best thing a kid can have. My grandparents got me lots of toys and stuff while I was growing up, but nothing really compares the feeling I get when someone tells me that they really like the cake I made and I get to say "Thank you, my great grandma taught me how to make it!"
I get why people enjoy their grand kids so much. They're not busy raising them and can have more fun with them. My kids have great memories of my grandmother. She was always around for them and then moved in with us. It was a great experience for them.
It's so hard when you're racing around taking care of day to day life. The moments you have for those special times seem to be far too rare.
All of my favorite childhood memories have her and my grandfather in them. He died before my kids were born so mine didn't have the privilege of knowing him.
I'm getting ready for my first grandchild now. I hope I'm half the grandmother that mine was. She meant everything to me.
My grandfather outlived the others and so he was the main grandparent, he was very involved in our lives.
When we became teenagers, he would take us aside and show us where he hid a key to his home and tell us that his home was our home, if we ever needed a place to stay, just come on over, let ourselves in, get something to eat, help ourself to the television or whatever, and we had a room of our own there. He said he'd ask no questions.
At least one cousin took him up on it and stayed in his home for a period of time until she patched things up with her parents and moved back home with them.
I posted this because I've been reading threads about what grandparents should or shouldn't buy for their children and other things like that, and I know grandparents like to spoil their grandkids but toys and iPads don't matter in the long run.
My grandparents were never really wealthy or anything while I was growing up but we got to spend a ton of time together. I have some friends whose grandparents send them $1000 checks for birthdays but they can't tell me their grandma's favorite color or hobby or something. So knowing things like my grandma's favorite color is blue, that my grandpa's favorite snack while he was in the Marine Corps was hotdogs, and that great grandpa loved searching for arrow heads and artifacts in his spare time always makes me feel a lot better than any sort of check or gift could.
Well, as a relatively new grandparent, I have really enjoyed these posts. I had interesting grandparents whom I loved to visit. My grandmother had a profound effect on me, and I regret I never told her that. I think I did not know this until recently, though.
Many of my interests were piqued by her and her marvelous (to me) house. I loved her femininity and her interest in preserving her looks.
At any rate, I adore my grands, and the posts here simply help me to understand that our presence in their lives is valuable. We pick one of the grands up from school once a week. We get to spend several hours with this grand before his parent comes home. I feel like we are really comfortable around each other, and I've been thinking that we need to do more simple things together.
I think a lot depends on the grandparent. One of my former childhood neighbors was broken hearted because she had not just one but 2 MS-type diseases that afflicted her at a young age and couldn't even hold her son's baby much less help in any way. Probably for her, just loving her grandson and feeling bad that she was powerless to help was the best thing she oculd do.
Other grandparents might be active but don't have much money to give, taking grandchildren camping, hiking, bicycling might be the best thing they can do -- others might be able to assist with day care so parents can work and not worry. Other grandparents can't handle babysitting, maybe they give money or bigger gifts because that is the best they can do.
I think a lot depends on the grandparent. One of my former childhood neighbors was broken hearted because she had not just one but 2 MS-type diseases that afflicted her at a young age and couldn't even hold her son's baby much less help in any way. Probably for her, just loving her grandson and feeling bad that she was powerless to help was the best thing she oculd do.
Other grandparents might be active but don't have much money to give, taking grandchildren camping, hiking, bicycling might be the best thing they can do -- others might be able to assist with day care so parents can work and not worry. Other grandparents can't handle babysitting, maybe they give money or bigger gifts because that is the best they can do.
Yeah, that's true.
I think the main message behind my original post was that I think it's good when grandparents get to know their grandkids and let their grandkids get to know them. I just didn't word it in a way that took other people's situations into consideration.
Some grandparents may not be able to teach their grandkid how to fish or sew or something, but they can do other things to teach their grandkids about who they are.
I guess I was just thinking about how I think it's sad when some people I know don't really know about their grandparents' personalities, interests, things like that. For instance, knowing that my great grandma's favorite tv show was Golden Girls and being able to watch it with her means more to me than any tangible gift/item could.
You're right bayou91..it's a wonderful thing to have grandparents who really care and take an active part in their grand children's lives. I was very fortunate in that one set of grandparents have always been there for all my children, and by that I mean sharing their lives ups and downs, always encouraging them, and praising them when they've done good.. supporting and counseling them when they've goofed up.....there for them to lean on if need be...the best Grandparents I could ever desire for my children...I truly appreciate and love them for that...more than they know I'm sure.
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I never would've picked any of that stuff up at my parent's house. 
