June 1, 2017 | Parenting In the Loop

Weekend from Parenting in the Loop

Summer Safety

Weekends and summer are times of get togethers with family and friends for fun and food. Keeping it safe is essential especially for kids as they rely on the adults to keep them free from hazards.

“It only takes a second”…

How many times I have read that statement and spoken those words?

One weekend many years ago I was standing at the Top of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco with my one year old daughter in between me and my husband. We both admired the view at exactly the same moment. When we looked down at our daughter she was not there and no where in sight! The elevator doors were just closing and my heart was skipping many beats at the same moment. It seemed like an eternity but it was only a second later that I heard her voice saying, “hi”…”hi” and I realized that she was walking throughout the hotel bar greeting all of the people who were having drinks and enjoying the gorgeous view.

Yes…it only takes a second for a catastrophe to happen. Summer, pools and beaches are so much fun for everyone but it only takes a second to change that into a horrific event. Keep your eyes on your children around water no matter what. “It only takes a second”

Now every time we go to the pool or near any kind of water, I review safety strategies with my 3-year-old son. I remind him …

Anytime he doesn’t know what to do or is scared in the water, to look for the sky and roll over on his back.

That he knows how to find the edge of the pool and that it’s always a safe place to grab on to.

That he knows how to blow bubbles and close his mouth so water doesn’t get in.

Have a happy and a safe weekend!

The Rewards of Aging

aging

As a demographic, we have swelled into a giant bulge in the population. There are more than 27,000 new grandparents in the United States every week. Many are the “revolutionaries” of the 1960s and ’70s — the pioneer women who entered the white-collar work force. Well, now, 40, 50 years later, these same women are pioneers again, this time reinventing grandparenting.

Source: Grandbabies: The Great Reward for Aging – The New York Times

My life changed the day I became a grandmother. I never realized how much a grandchild could steal my heart and make me fall in love all over again with a little baby!

My granddaughter is almost nine and we have a grandson, who will turn two this summer. Right from the beginning my own memories of my grandmother and mother influenced how I would grandparent. I was “grandmothering in the loop” of my own experiences of how loving and important my Nana and Mom were in my childhood.

I don’t believe I am reinventing anything. I am merely handing down the precious love of my mother and grandmother to my own grandchildren.

As I see it and as mentioned in the NYT article, today’s aging adults and grandparents are able to indulge grandchildren but at the same time assist their parents with some of the many responsibilities that go along with providing for a child. We are also able to babysit, and do various childcare errands which allow for both sets of parents to have careers.

I would not trade the time that I have spent and will continue to spend with my grandchildren for anything. They are cherished beyond all else and have been since we first learned we were to become grandparents.

My wish is that the beauty of this kind of love for new lives making their way in this complicated world is forever considered a blessing by those of us whom they call Nana and Papa.

Aging is not always fun but it can be good thanks to grandkids.