How to Nurture “Grand” Relationships in Your Family

Jennifer Landis - 18 May 18

Grandparents are a wonderful part of your family. For families lucky enough to have them around, encouraged involvement in their grandkids lives has many benefits. Studies show elderly people at high risk for abuse when it comes to isolation and loneliness in retirement years. Family involvement can help alleviate those feelings and give grandparents a chance to break up their routine.

On the grandkid side of things, having their grandparents around has invaluable effects on them. They can learn to trust and depend on people besides their parents and form their own relationships with them. And of course, for the parents of the kids, they get to feel comfortable leaving their kids with someone and taking a break for themselves. Invest the time it takes to make them comfortable with one another with the help of these tips.

Encourage Time Together

It’s not uncommon for a first-time parent to feel uncomfortable leaving their child with a stranger. It’s completely normal and not something you have to force. However, that’s when grandparents often come in handy. But don’t forget the grandparents might feel a bit nervous regarding their roles as well. They’re meeting and getting to know a whole new person, which takes time.

Learning to enjoy anyone’s company comes with spending time with them. The more time you foster between your child and their grandparents, the more comfortable interactions and one-on-one time will carry out. By allowing your child to spend time with their grandparents, they have the opportunity to build memories with them. This helps kids learn how to react to new people and form bonds with those who commonly interact with them.

Strong family bonds help children thrive more readily. This could indicate an underappreciation of grandparent relationships in modern society.

Create a Work-Child-Life Balance

As parents, whether working from home or at the office, you can easily feel rushed to complete each day’s tasks. In the midst of this, kids can quickly become an annoyance as they demand our full attention when we can’t provide it. But have you thought about letting grandparents step in at these times?

Grandparents don’t have to worry about finishing up chores while the kids are awake because they have the option to do so when the kids go home. The rush to make dinner disappears because grandparents don’t follow a set schedule. There’s also no hurry to stop playing and move onto the next thing, allowing kids to take all the time they want to discover the intricacies of life.

Asking grandma or grandpa to take their grandkids for a walk is a great way to discover that. Not only does it give you some time to do the things you need to get done, but the kids have the full attention and focus of other loving adults. Your child may come back from the walk with a new appreciation for spider, dogs or cars and teach you things about them! Plus, the grandparents receive benefits from these interactions too.

Continued movement is one of the best ways to remain active and healthy as people age. As people’s ages go up, their activity levels shouldn’t necessarily go down. With the help of grandkids’ motivation, grandparents can go for a free walk through the park, take the kids to the zoo or visit the local farmer’s market. Walking will help keep their heart healthy, blood pressure low and encourage joint mobility. All of these activities make for decent exercise habits for grandparents, and the addition of kids makes it feel fun and not like a workout.

Take Advantage of Sleepovers

If you have a situation where the grandparents are willing and able to host the kids for an entire night, it’s a good thing to let the kids have a sleepover. This works even better if there are cousins that can tag along as well. It helps the kids to keep each other entertained and might let some of the stress off of the grandparents. The kids can get a chance to bond with each other and develop their own lasting relationships. Plus, it might give them more joy than you can imagine having the sounds of children laughing, playing and fighting around the house!

Allow for Fun and Games

Many grandparents feel it’s their job to spoil their grandkids. Unless you live together, there’s no harm in them getting special treatment on occasion. Remember, the people they spend the most time with will have the most significant impact on their lives. That means you, as the parents have the biggest impact. Sure, Grandma and Grandpa might give them too much candy and let them watch too many movies, but if they come back happy and it’s not upsetting the kids, then let the grandparents spoil your kids.

However, if you want to limit candy and movies, try to encourage the grandparents to take the kids out and about and send along your kids’ favorite games. Allow them to teach their grandparents how to make slime, or show them how to color on an IPad. With as quickly as children pick up technology, you might find they can introduce your parents to some new habits.

Get Nurturin’

Grandparents are important. You can’t underestimate how much value they can instill in your children’s lives, nor how much joy your kids can give them in return. Let them do that for each other, and take a little time for yourself. Everyone wins!

Jennifer Landis

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