13 minute read
Celebrate Grandparents Day in KC
why kids need GRANDPARENTS
They go by many names and are important people in your child’s life. Whether it’s their Grandma, Papa, Gigi, Granny or Gramps, it’s important for your children to establish and maintain a close bond with their grandparents.
Grandparents play a key role in the lives of children. They are positive role models, help kids develop problem solving skills and can become a stabilizing force for young people during times of trauma, such as divorce or the loss of a parent. Spending time with grandchildren is just as beneficial to grandparents, too. A study by the U.S. National Library of Medicine found that women who spend just one day a week taking care of their grandchildren have the highest cognitive performance among their peers. Another study from Boston College says, “An emotionally close relationship between grandparent and grandchild is associated with fewer symptoms of depression for both generations.”
We know the bond is important, but how do we go about creating and maintaining that bond? It can be especially tough with busy schedules and long distances between each other, but we’ve put together several tips for grandparents and grandchildren to cultivate their special relationship
visit often
Do your best to make visits to see grandparents a priority. If you live close to your parents, try to make a weekly trip to visit them. Get together for Sunday dinner or invite them over for your Friday movie nights. It’s just as important for grandparents to visit your house too. If you live far away from each other, plan a long trip to visit at least once a year. Then, they can visit you later in the year. You can also plan to meet at a point in the middle of both homes for a long weekend visit.
use technology
According to an AARP report, more than 50 percent of all grandparents live further than 200 miles away from one or more of their grandkids. Luckily, we have amazing technology to help us keep in touch with our family. Skype, Zoom and Facetime are easy ways to communicate with each other, no matter the distance. Schedule weekly video chats to catch up on what happened during the week. The chats don’t need to be long but can be just enough to keep grandparents informed of your child’s life. We like to Facetime our parents when something big happens in our kids’ lives. For example, we Facetimed them to show them our new puppy, and they were able to see the excitement on the kids’ faces for themselves. You can also keep them updated by posting photos and videos on social media networks like Facebook and Instagram. If your parents aren’t familiar with these technologies, make sure to set up their devices and show them how it works in person.
Kids love getting mail, and grandparents love it just as much, especially when it’s from their grandchildren. Encourage your kids to write letters and draw pictures to mail to their grandparents. Grandparents can write them back or send little cards or notes to let the kids know they are thinking of them. Email can also work well for writing back and forth with grandparents, if the grandparents are tech savvy.
keep photos around the house
Do your best to keep a reminder of your parents around the house through photos. This will keep the grandparents at the top of your children’s minds and will remind them of the fun memories they’ve had together. Also, make sure you send school photos and other snapshots to your parents periodically. They will love receiving them and seeing how much the kids have grown. Our family utilizes Our Photo, a digital picture frame. We are able to upload pictures to the app on our phone and the photos show up on our parent’s picture frames. The grandparents always enjoy seeing the new photos, and it’s less of a hassle for us because we don’t have to keep going to the store to have photos printed.
share common interests
Grandparents are a great source of knowledge for your children. It’s so special when they can find common interests to strengthen their bond. Perhaps they both enjoy baking, woodworking, playing a musical instrument or gardening. Your child will be able to learn so much from your parents, and your parents will find joy in sharing these things with the next generation. It’s also special, because they might recall their parents and grandparents teaching these things to them. These lessons will stick with your children, and they will pass them on to their children.
share stories
Encourage your parents to share stories with your kids. Ask them to tell you about when they met their spouse, what school was like when they were young or about their careers. If they will let you, record them telling these stories. These will become cherished moments for you to listen to one day. I still have the recording of my grandmother telling me about World War II for an oral history project, and it’s one of my most cherished possessions.
keep grandparents included
If your child has a soccer game on Saturday, call and invite them. If there’s a school play, invite them. If the kids get a special award at school, invite them to dinner to celebrate. Keeping them included in the day-to-day activities will help the grandparents feel more connected to your children.
don’t get caught up in gifts
Grandparents can sometimes fall into wanting to spoil their grandchildren with toys, clothes and candy. A little spoiling is fine, but what really matters to kids is spending quality time together and having a meaningful relationship. You don’t want the grandkids to look at you as the grandparent who buys them things. You want them to get to know you and enjoy spending little moments together. The little moments like baking cookies, working in the garden, fishing or playing card games make the greatest impact on your relationship.
Regan Lyons is a girl mom and freelance writer. She lives with her husband and daughters, Atley, 7, and Ensley, 1, in St. Joseph, MO.
A study by the American Grandparents Association showed that 72 percent think that being a grandparent is the single most important and satisfying thing in their life.
five ideas for GRANDPARENTS DAY in kansas city
Grandparents Day falls on Sept. 12 this year. We are excited to honor grandparents with memory-making outings, homemade gifts and treasured time celebrating them! 1. train rides
Enjoy a ride aboard the Belton, Grandview & Kansas City Railroad. Trains bring out the child in everyone, and the Belton, Grandview & Kansas City Railroad’s old-fashioned rides are just the ticket! Take an excursion south from Belton on a 5-mile, 45-minute round trip. You’ll find tickets for 2:00 Sunday afternoon rides at KCRRM.org. 2. FREE admission for grandparents day
One of our favorite local attractions, the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm, is celebrating grandparents a day early this year, on Sept. 11. Bring the whole family to experience living history, 1860s style! The Olathe Civic Band will begin playing on the North Activity Area at 2:00. Living history activities may include stagecoach rides, seasonal farming activities, visiting the Mahaffie House, blacksmith and cookstove demonstrations, yard games, self-guided tours of exhibits in the Agricultural Heritage Livestock Barn and the Heritage Center. Best of all, one grandparent is admitted free with one paying grandchild admission. Mahaffie.org 3. paint pottery
There is something special about the handprints of a child, and the best place to make a handprint, footprint or thumbprint keepsake is Ceramic Café. This paint-your-own pottery shop offers a wide selection of projects, from plates and mugs to frames and holiday pieces. The staff will happily help with project ideas and inspiration as your children paint ceramic masterpieces. You can invite grandparents to paint with you or make gifts in advance for the holiday. For the gifts to be ready in time, plan your painting for a week or more in advance. CeramicCafeKC.com
4. head to the kansas city zoo
Everyone loves a beautiful day at the Kansas City Zoo. Pack a picnic and bring it to the zoo! Spend time enjoying the Polar Bear Passage, Helzberg Penguin Plaza, Tiger Trail, Australia and Elephant Expedition. Then, head over to Africa and enjoy a ride on the Sky Safari. Remember to ride on the carousel, boat or tram for even more fun. Upgrade your FOTZ membership to enjoy free rides! KansasCityZoo.org
5. conduct an interview
Whether grandparents live nearby or far away, you can capture and preserve the special relationship they hold in your family. Help the kids create a journal or blog and interview their grandparents, recording the answers. Make two copies—one to keep and one to share—or create a blog to share online. Add to it each year.
Interview Grandparents:
• When you were my age, what did you enjoy? • Did you watch TV? Favorite shows? • What did you enjoy in school? • What did your bedroom look like? • Did you have a favorite pet? • What did you want to be when you grew up and did you do it? • Tell about the first time you met Grandma/Grandpa. • What was my parent like as a child? • What did you think when you first met me?
Interview Children: • What do you enjoy most about your grandparents? • What is your first memory of your grandparents? • What do you look forward to doing together? • What would you like to know about them? • What do you share in common?
We’ve all heard how important it is for families to gather around the dinner table every night for quality time together. However, even though many parents try hard to make the practice work, sometimes it just doesn’t. The fact of the matter is that every family is different, and for some, dinner isn’t the best time to congregate for family time. Conflicting evening schedules among family members may make it tough, but don’t beat yourself up for it. You have so many other options to spend regular family time together each day that don’t necessarily require the dinner table. In fact, studies now state that quality family time doesn’t necessarily need to take place at the dinner table. It’s the time spent connecting with and influencing our kids that truly matters, not where those moments take place. So if you’re struggling to make it to the dinner table every night, take a look at some of these great ideas that just might work for your clan instead! Breakfast Club. That’s right! Start your own family breakfast club. If everyone is home in the morning, plan to get up a little earlier, make a meal everyone likes and sit down at the table together to eat and catch up before everyone heads out for the day. You may want to do this every morning or just a few mornings a week. It’s up to you! You might even want to give your breakfast club a fun name!
Sunday Fun Day. If family dinners are impossible to plan during the week, but you still would like at least one dinner together each week, make Sunday your day! Plan a specific time for everyone to come together every Sunday to eat and enjoy each other’s company. You might even throw in a game or movie to follow dessert!
Family Meetings. Bring your family together weekly or bi-weekly to talk about things that need everyone’s attention. By engaging kids in family decision making, family meetings can help to resolve conflict, build unity and foster a sense of autonomy. Setting up regular meetings ensures your family will always have time to come together. Game Night. Fill your home with laughter and excitement by planning family game nights. Whether it’s once a week or once a month, it’s a great way to bring the family together and connect with one another.
Car Rides. Take advantage of every car ride you take with your kids. Instead of turning on music or movies in the car, spend your drive time listening to them talk and enjoy a fun conversation with them! This is such a great way to connect with your kids. Every little moment matters!
Sweet Treats. Is it too difficult to get the family together during dinner hours? If so, think outside the box and plan a time later in the evening (7:00 or 8:00) for everyone to come together and have dessert.
Chatty Chores. Give the kids and teens age-appropriate chores and, while everyone is working, have some fun conversations! Folding laundry, helping prep a meal, washing the car and fetching ingredients for a recipe are all great tasks for kids of all ages, and they encourage conversation and quality time together while also getting things done.
Walkie Talkie. No, not the thing you hold in your hand and talk into. Although, that could be fun—and nostalgic too! Instead, plan a day each week to go for walks together. Walk around the neighborhood or take a stroll at a nearby park. This is a great way to exercise and have great conversations!
Family Face Time. Whether you have FaceTime, Skype, Zoom or one of the many other virtual meeting apps, take advantage of the technology and use it to keep up with the family! These are great options to keep in touch and on top of what’s been going on with the family for parents who work late, travel or do not live in the same home as their kids.
Art Night. Bring out the art supplies and let every family member create together! YouTube is a great place for finding some fun art projects and how-to videos. Buy some canvases and paint supplies and create some masterpieces to hang throughout the house. Or create one big masterpiece with the entire family! Mini Vacation. Forget Disney World. Instead, look for mini getaways for the entire family that are inexpensive, during off-peak times, and not more than three hours from home. Planning a few of these throughout the year is a great way to get away as a family, make memories and build the family bond even stronger.
Weekend Gardening. Gather the family together and plan what everyone would like to grow in the garden area. If you don’t have garden space, you can plant a container garden. Once you have the list written down, take a family shopping trip to find everything you need for planting, then plan a day to do the actual work. Growing and caring for a family garden is a great way to enjoy each other’s conversation and build strong bonds.
Bedtime Bonding. If you miss out a lot on daytime conversations and quality time together, you might look to bedtime for staying connected. With small children, ask them questions such as, “What do you think you’ll dream about tonight?” Go deeper with older kids: “What kind of job do you think you’d be really good at and why?” This is a great way to stay connected and get to know your children on a deeper level.
The secret behind making family dinners work is multifaceted: It’s a choice that takes time and know-how, schedules must coincide, and you must make it a priority. If it’s not a priority, then it won’t work. And if it doesn’t work for your family, whatever the reason, then it doesn’t work. And that’s okay as long as you pursue some of the many other ways to connect as a family. Once you find what works for your crew, keep on keeping on and make gathering a regular event everyone looks forward to.
Kansas City mom and author Gina Klein has always made family dinnertime a priority in her home, along with family meetings, game nights, sweet treats, TV time and whatever else can be fit in each week!
