Grandparenting

[druiaghtagh]

I briught up 4 children and found it tough as there is not a book you can learn parenting from. I made lots of mistakes but the children all grew up well. Two of them have given me 3 lovely Grandaughters who i love till my heart almost bursts. I find it much easire being a Grandad and have lots more patience, come on you lot on here, any body agree with me?

[Clanad]

Oh, sure. But I remember what my Dad said to me when my sons and daughters repeat the exact words I said to my father..." you never let me get away with that" when he was quite lax with disciplining my kids. He said..."I had to raise you to be a man all I have to do with these children is love them"... pretty wise words. I'm very close to all the grandkids, and the listen when I do admonish, but the "raising" of them is the responsibility of the their parents. If we've done a good job of raising our own, then there should be little problem with them raising their own... I hope this hasn't been confusing, but you probably already know what I mean, Gandpa. By the way, I'm much to young to be a grandfather...

[devilwoman]

i've brought up 4 kids too, the eldest now 30 the first two were pretty close together in age, and bringing them up was difficult and i felt sorry for them cos i was'nt a good parent because i felt i had to learn how to be a mum, i did'nt have paents to help me, i love the kids dont get me wrong but i made everything mistake on them, like feeding clothing and generally not knowing how to play with them. but when i hsd the second two things were much better cos i had the experience and knowledge, i was more patient andf more fun to be with helped all 4 kids with reading/homework ect and listened to them and dressed them nicely. i hope the older ones did'nt suffer too much while i was a learner, they all seem happy enough and never been in trouble with police, never skived off school or taken drugs of any kind so i guess i must have done something right. i'm still waiting for grandchildren cos that will be easier still and more fun, like clanad said all you have to do is love them, and then when you've had enough just give them back.

[noxlumos]

My eldest son ( well step son but same thing to me) has recently had his girlfriend move in with him who has two littlies aged 4 and 2 and I have to say I'm still relatively inexperienced as a Grandad but isn't it great? With your own kids you have to , as Clanad says, give careful consideration with every move you make. This is just heaven, you take em fishing, to the fair, Alton towers, then give em back, brilliant:)