Creating Lasting Relationships with Grandchildren

Among the best things about being retired is being able to spend one’s time with loved ones, especially grandchildren. As your grandchildren goes through their own life stages, their interests change as well in the same way you transition from having no social time to having more free time that you would like. So, what’s the best way to spend time with them as they get older? Here are some ideas and fun activities you can do with your grandchildren.

When they are in their early years just around 8 years and younger, arts and crafts are the way to go. You can construct paper lanterns, help them learn the art of origami and spend hours flying paper airplanes or floating paper boats on streams. Painting is also a nice activity to spend with your grandkids. They will surely love the colorful paintings you will both end up with. Making lava lamps is also never goes out of style for kids and you may also pique their interest in both science and art.

When they start their middle school, you can keep their interests and nurture their love for learning. If they express interest in science, you can help them out in their homework or science fair projects. If those do not exist, why not make your own experiment with them?  There are tons of resources online such as the egg drop experiment, glowing exploding bag, and the dry ice experiments. If they are into building structures and you are a handyman, both of you may enjoy building models and creating toys together. If they enjoy the outdoors and like working with their hands, you can help them create their own fairy garden. However, for the adventurous ones, a scavenger hunt may be a great idea. Among the independent senior apartments in Des Moines, IA that is near a great venue for a scavenger hunt is Prairie View Senior Village because it is close to High Trestle trails. You’ll definitely spend a lot of time planning for that perfect adventure for them.

Once they reach their high school phase, it sometimes gets tough to build a connection with grandchildren because of their want to be more independent. However, if you have built a great relationship with them when they were younger, bonding with them will never be an issue. At this point, it may be more important to be closer to them. If most of your grandchildren are in Kansas City, it is not a bad idea to find retirement Communities in Kansas City, KS or senior apartments in Kansas City, MO. At this stage in their lives, they are most likely trying to acquire the skills they need to be more independent. You can help them by giving them a head start and preparing them with the skills they think they’ll need. The best idea may be to cook and bake with them. What makes food great is it being the common thing that makes people come together. Surely, you already have a list of timeless recipes that never fails to impress a crowd. Why not share it with your grand-kids and have fun making it together? Kids these days also have an inclination of growing their own food and starting a garden, so it may also be a good idea to share clippings from your garden if you own one. You can spend an hour each day talking about gardening tips and tricks over the phone. If they’re the builder kind and you fancy building stuff yourself, keep your hands busy and help them make make minor renovations in their place. They’ll most likely be more than happy to host you whenever you visit.

Then they move to adulthood and go through the same things you had to go through in raising them. If anything, the things that will bind you together would be sharing experiences that worked and did not work. Cobblestone Pointe Senior Village are among the the apartments for 55+ seniorsin New Hampshire, NH that are close to coffee houses and other amenities great for sharing stories over hot chocolate.“Mothers know best” did not became a famous phrase for no reason. When couples are asked what helped them the most in going through parenthood, many would say that their parents were the most invaluable resources one can ask for.

All these come down to one tip: See if you share the same passion or interests with your grandchildren, and you’ll surely find a couple of things to bond over.