QOTD - Grandparents - 10.28.15

LeeAndra

LeeAndra

Sweet Shoppe SugarBabe
My mom is flying in for the weekend! :wub::wub::wub:

Are you close to your grandparents? Are your kids close to theirs? If you're a grandparent, are you close to your grandkids? Why do you think you have a close or not close relationship?

Is there anything you've taken from your previous grandparent(ing) experience that you either will do/change when you're a grandparent or have done/changed now that you are a grandparent?
 
All my grandparents all have passed... my hubby has one grandmother still alive. I was really close to my grandfather on my mom's side... the others not so much. My mom's mom pretty much ignored my mom for many years and I only heard from her on my birthday. On my Dad's side... I was kind of close to my grandma, but not my grandfather... they were old school german. I was a girl and wouldn't carry the family name. It was so bad that when my grandfather would answer the phone and I would ask to speak to grandma, he didn't know who it was - I was the ONLY grandchild for 9 years!

Jake - who is the only grandchild on both sides... is all over the board for closeness to his grandparents... hubby's dad isn't that good with kids... now that Jake is older and get him beer from the fridge, FIL will talk more to Jake. My dad comes once a month and Jake has his full attention. My mom and step dad are who Jake sees the most...
 
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I was/am super close to three of my grandparents. I can't stress the influence they've had on me or the affection I feel.

My girls are really close and involved with some ( my mom and stepdad, my husbands' s dad ) and not very involved with others. It's complicated. None of their grandparents are local, the closest are a few hours away and the others are 1,000 miles. It makes me sad for the grandparents that are missing out but it's really their loss. My girls aren't nearly as hurt by it as I am.
 
I was not close to either set of grandparents growing up.

The ones that lived an hour away had many grandchildren and were closer to the ones who lived in their teeny-tiny town vs. those of us who lived further away. My grandmother, who is still alive, is just not all that maternal or nurturing and expects people to do X, Y, and Z for her in order to 'prove' that they love her or are a good (grand)child. I hate that. She now has many great-grandchildren as well and is abt the same with them as she was with us. My grandfather was an abusive tyrant who passed many years ago.

My other grandparents lived in Florida, and while they loved and enjoyed us, we only saw them once a year, if that, because of the distance. Papa was amazing, but he died of cancer when I was 16. After he passed, my grandmother moved up to where we lived to be close to my dad. This was just as I was graduating from high school and going off to college so while my younger sister was close to her, I was not as close as I would have liked to have been. It still bothers me that I am now FINALLY moving back to my hometown... four years after her passing.

Technically, my maternal grandmother is the only one of my grandparents still alive, but since we 'adopted' my paternal grandmother's best friend and the kids call him Great-Grandpa, he counts, too, and thank goodness because I like him the best! :wub: I can't WAIT to spend more time with him after the move!! He is incredible with the grandkids.

My kiddos have really lucked out in the grandparent department! :wub: My dad is not particularly involved with spending time with/watching them but he is just that way with kids in general. My mother and both of my ILs absolutely adore the kids, and I am so grateful that my kids are growing up with super loving and super involved grandparents.

I think I will make a great Nana when the time comes (a long, long time from now!), but I may be biased. :p:D
 
My father in law died in November of 2013. My oldest son Cole was really close to him. My dad died in November 2014. He never really had much to do with him unfortunately. My mom spends time with them but, not when she's around my middle sisters children. Which is not fair to my kids. Yet, I would never tell her she couldn't see them either.

My husbands boss and his wife have adopted Cole and Cade as their grandchildren so that is great!

My grandma and step-grandfather are alive and we go see them every few months. We just went and my Papa had to have cancer removed from his nose. My grandfather saw us infrequently as children. Now I see him every year at the family reunion.
 
Mine are all passed now - the last one being almost 10 years ago. I was very close to both my grandmothers. I barely remember my grandfathers as they passed when I was 6 and 8 years old.

Christopher was somewhat close to his grandparents (well 3, since DH's father passed a few weeks after he was born) but not as close as he could have been since we were military and only saw them a couple times a year most years. Once we came back to Maine though he spent a lot more time with them.

Cheyanne is very close to my parents - they live just around the corner from us and she comes and goes from their house as much as ours. She was pretty close to DHs mom and she just passed last year.

I'm pretty close with my 2 grands - they live about 2 hours away but I try to see them at least once or twice a month and we skype and chat on the phone.
 
Both of my grandmothers are still alive (and kicking!), and my maternal grandfather. My only grandparent who has passed is my paternal grandpa... I miss him so much :crying:. I have always been very close to my grandparents on my dad's side because when I was born we lived with them briefly, and then after moving at age 6 to FL we would visit them and stay at their house every year. My maternal grandmother was very close, also, but she moved more often and had some drama in her life that sometimes got in the way of me seeino her as often. But now she is extremely close to us and she winters here in Florida, so I get to see her a lot.

My kids see my parents all the time because they live 20 minutes from us. They have a great relationship with them, we join them for dinner every weekend and mom helps me when I need someone to watch them. They call and visit often. My in-laws are more private people, even when they lived nearby we didn't see them as often as we would have liked and we usually felt like the initiator of the visits. They moved 3 hours away about 5 years ago, and now we visit them or they visit us about every 2 months. Our time with them is actually more quality then it was when they lived close, funny enough. They rarely call the kids, though... almost never. We still love them very much and they love the kids. It's just a more distant relationship.
 
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I'm very close to both my grandparents on my mom's side. When I was a kid, they lived 3 streets aways from me. I would go and play there, stay for dinner, spend the night. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to.
When my mom went back to work when I was 4, I pretty much grew up with my grandparents. I was there every day, they brought me to school, they picked me up from school. I was there on school holidays.
The connection I have with them never changed.

Now I live about an hour away from them, but every time I'm in their area, I just have to stop and say hello to them. Even if it's for just a couple of minutes.
 
We were close to my grandparents growing up. My dad was ARMY so we spent a lot of time away but we always kept close relationships. Sadly, as I have entered further into my adulthood they have all passed away. :(

My kids are very close with their grandparents. We are super big on family though. My daughter practically lives at my mom's house. She is such a nana's girl.
 
I'm close to 1 of my nanas.

My kids are close to their dads mum and her other half. But no other grandparents bother with them for reasons unknown
 
My mom has been staying with us for a month due to all of our traveling and luckily my children are very close to her. My 24 year old daughter calls her every day while she is out hiking with her dogs just to visit her grammy. So lucky and blessed to have an amazing mom!
 
When I was a kid we went to both sets of grandparents at least once a week. I wouldn't say I was close to them but I always tried to call and say hello while I was in college. All of save one have passed many years ago and the one who is still with us is in a home for Alzheimers. She doesn't remember me at all, in fact she thinks I'm my mom when I do go home and visit.

Being military, we haven't lived close to either set of parents so my boys don't get to see their grandparents as often as I wish they could be we skype regularly and try to see them at least twice a year.
 
I've only known 1 grandparent - my Dad's Mum - as all the others died before I was born. She's been awesome and we love her to pieces. We're all pretty close to her. Nana turned 100 this month, so we know we don't have much more time with her.
 
I've never met my grandparents on my mother's side, they both passed away before I was born. My grandmother on my father's side passed away when I was only 6 years old, so I've mostly only known my grandfather. He passed away when I was 22, so I have the most memories of him. I was quite fond of him.
 
My last remaining grandparent died a few weeks ago and we are still recovering from her unexpected death. She was 90-years old.
My oldest is named after my favorite grandmother (my mom's mom). Her name was Ruth Esther. I couldn't get my husband to go for Esther, but I was able to get Ruth for a middle name! My oldest reminds me a lot of my grandmother, who died when I was a very young age. My mom is shocked at how much I remember her and the details surround the life of my grandmother. She was just that special.

We currently with my parents, so my children are all in my grandparents face. The oldest doesn't care for either set of grandparents, but she has emotional issues and doesn't like anyone. The middle is attached to my parents, but not his parents. The youngest loves seeing my parents and I don't know what he's going to do when we move cross-country in a few months without them. I do not know what his relationship is with his parents because he's only seen them a handful of times in his lifetime.
 
My mother's parents passed away when I was young, so I only have a few vague memories of them. I was close to my father's parents, and I was lucky enough to have them until relatively recently; they both passed away last year in their late '90s. My grandmother's health and memory deteriorated a lot over the last 10 years so she didn't really know my kids at all or recognize me the last few years, but my grandfather was himself right up until the end.

My kids are close to my parents and see them at least 8 times a year, which is wonderful since we live 7 hours away from each other. Their paternal grandparents passed away about 5 years ago, so they don't really remember them. It also didn't help that they were across the country from us, so we only saw them about once a year.
 
I am pretty close to one grandma and I always make time to see them. Both of my grandpas passed, but I was close to one of them, too. My son is close to his grandparents, especially my mom and step-dad. Our family all live on the other side of the state though. It sucks. I hope I can live in the same town as my grandkids and be part of the their daily lives and there for concerts, sports, etc.
 
I only knew my mother's parents. We are/were very close. We always lived just a few minutes away so we spent a lot of time together. My grandfather passed away in December 2012. So heartbreaking. My grandmother is still alive so I try to spend as much time with her as possible.

My children only know my mother as a grandparent. My father has not ever been around (even though they have met him). My hubby's mother lives in Alaska and is not a part of our lives. My hubby's father passed away a few years ago but we never met him either. They are not lacking in the love though. They have some adopted grandparents that love them like their own.
 
My grandparents have all passed away. My 2 grandfathers before I was ever born, and my maternal grandmother when I was 5.

My paternal grandmother was really the only one I truly remember, she passed away only a few years ago. We were not very close, since we were about a 10hr car ride away from each other, but my parents and I would visit every summer and occasionally on Christmas, and we always made sure to have special one-on-one time with grandma. We loved to bake together! (She was a bit scary, though... I never had the nerves to tell her that I hated tomato juice, and that every time she served it to me, I'd pass it to my dad to drink quick while she was in the kitchen...)

Alex is very close with my parents, even though we do not live in the same city, she sees them at least once or twice a month for a weekend. My parents who are now retired have made a very big effort to be as involved in her life as possible, despite the distance. My mother-in-law has also come over a few times whenever we needed help, and since she lives in the same city as my parents, we see her when we go visit, but Alex is not as close with her as with my parents. I'm not quite sure how to overcome that, though...
 
My grandad died when I was 7 so I only have fleeting memories now. I'm fairly close to my grandmother and lived with her for 3 1/2 years - I actually think our relationship is better now cause we aren't together 24/7.

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I have 3 sets of grandparents on my side - my mom's parents, my bio dad's parents, and my stepdad's parents. (My dad did remarry but we never lived with him so my stepmother's parents were never involved with my sister & I.) I was/am very close with my mom's parents. My grandma was the secretary at my elementary school so we would get dropped off at their house every morning and walk to school with her, and my grandpa would always cook us breakfast every day. They're really like an extension of my parents. My grandpa on my mom's side passed away in 2009 which was SO hard, I still miss him so so much.

I was never very close with my dad's parents - we saw them on a semiegular basis but it was always awkward, especially when my dad remarried and had kids with his second wife. It always felt like we were a bit of an afterthought, or didn't really "fit". Both grandparents on my dad's side have passed.

We see my stepdad's parents fairly frequently but I wouldn't say we are close.

My boys are VERY VERY close with my parents. Like, they would choose to live with them if I let them. They see them at least once a week but usually once during the week and on a lot of weekends. We see my husband's parents fairly often but they don't have the same closeness to them - I wouldn't say they aren't close, but it's a totally different relationship. And we only see my bio dad and his family like once every 3 years or so. Soooo...needless to say, they aren't super close with him.
 
I only knew 1 of my grandparents. She raised me. She and I were very close. She was my best friend. I lost her in 2006 and have missed her every day since.

The situation my children have with grandparents makes me sad. They have 2 sets of grandparents on my husband's side. One lives in Arizona. One lives in Pennsylvania. We live in Kansas, smack in the middle of the two. We don't see them often. My kids have a relatively good relationship with them considering the distance but I wish we were closer to them. - On my side they have 1 grandparent. My mom. She lives a mile away. They see her about twice a year. They aren't close to her at all. This is mostly her choosing. She stopped trying to be involved. We typically see her on Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving and sometimes over the summer once. That's it.

I fully intend to be that grandparent that is completely immersed in my grandchildren's lives. I've told my kids this already. LOL If they live away from us we will take up flying as a hobby. ;)
 
DH's grandparents have all passed. I never met them. Growing up, I had 3 grandpas & 5 grandmas (bio dad & "step-dad" had parents divorce & dads remarry). I wasn't close at all to bio-dad's parents. His mom sent us cards & gifts but we haven't seen her in years. His dad & step-mom sent us Christmas cards every year & we saw them a few times growing up.

I'm closest with my mom's parents. We spent a lot of time with them when my parents divorced & my mom was still going to school. My grandma passed away last year & it was the hardest loss so far. She was an amazing lady & family things aren't the same without her. My grandpa isn't the same with her gone. It's heartbreaking.

I talk with my dad's mom on the phone. We'll text and connect through IG. It's awesome! She checks in with me about family & I send her pictures/videos of the girls. It's great. She lives in Seattle so we don't see her very often but I love the times she comes to visit. I've learned to cherish those times more than ever.

My dad's dad & stepmom live about 30-40 minutes away and we see them the most. They're wonderful & while we're close, I don't stay in contact with them much more than when we see each other. My grandma would chat with me on the phone all day but I hate the phone haha!

I'm grateful for how many grandparents I have. I love family gatherings. We did them a lot when I was growing up and I look forward to them more now that I'm an adult and have my own family. I love that my girls have great-grandparents in their lives and that they see them often.

My parents & DH's parents are wonderful grandparents. They're all really active in the girls lives and we try to see them as often as we can/schedules allow. They've all made themselves connect with the girls in different ways & I love watching their relationships grow.
 
My grandparents have all passed away but I was always close to my paternal grandparents and my moms grandfather and grandmother. My parents and my husbands father have passed away. After my son passed there was a lot of turmoil with my husbands parents though so my son and daughter are not really close with his mom and have not been for quite awhile. I have two granddaughters who I adore and go to see as often as I possibly can. The youngest is still a baby but she lights up whenever she hears me or my husband come over and the oldest whenever she sees me says "Come on Gaga lets go play!" And she sets up her tea set, gets all dressed up and makes me wear a crown then serves tea and cookies. Or she will say "Let's go for a walk" We will go down to the corner and she will stop to look at little things like wildflowers, a cat that lives by her or to pick up little things like leaves (tree stars we call them) or rocks. She calls the rocks her "treasures" My daughter won't let the youngest stay overnight until she is two but the oldest stays overnight usually once or twice a month. Having the grandkids lights up our lives though. Theyre both so incredibly happy and with the older one talking up a storm she always makes you just laugh and laugh,
 
I was extremely close to my dad's parents, and his stepdad.

My dad passed when I was 3, so I think that was a big part of it. His mom was my favorite person in the world! She's been gone for over 10 years now. Her husband, my Crazy Papa (that's what I called him) was so great. They had an amazing relationship. And my dad's dad, lived next door to me most of my live. My Granny & Crazy Papa lived about 6 hours away, so I didn't see them as often as I wanted to. They're all gone now.

My mom's parents, not really, her mom is still alive, but they lived far away when I was a kid. We rarely saw them. And my mom's dad passed when I was 3 as well.

The kids are very close to Sean's parents, they only live about 15 minutes away. They love spending time with my mom and stepdad, but they live like 13 hours away, we see them about once a year.
 
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