Flexability

I was talking about children with my sister and our friend yesterday. We are all devoted grandmother's. We learned the rules quickly and use them wisely. The rules of grandparenting differ greatly from the rules of parenting. The basics still apply. Safety is above everything. Don't run with scissors, don't eat too much candy, cross at the corners, cover all pointy furniture, and so on. We have added a few new rules to our repertoire. No matter what we are asked to feed the grandchild, if it is larger than a pea, it isn't happening. We only feed soft, small foods that can slide down a child's throat with ease. We treat the grandchildren like a rental car. There will be a full inspection upon arrival and another upon departure. All marks, scrapes and black and blue marks will be duly noted in our journal. We will not be blamed for any damaged goods that did not happen on our watch. We have also learned flexibility. We go with the flow, easier than we did with our own kids. If we are told we need to watch the grandchildren for an hour or a day or a week, we smile and agree with pleasure. We shift our plans and our mindset to accommodate our children, their parents. If we disagree with anything we are told, we dance around the subject with the agility of a ballerina, until we get the issue resolved. Everything we do, is for those beautiful and handsome little faces that smile back at us.