The Best Things About Being a Grandma
The best things about being a grandma depend on who you ask. For some, it's time spent with grandkids at home, while others like taking them out. Playing games, baking, or even watching a movie together can spark joy.
I asked some girlfriends, who have grandkids of all ages, what they love most about being a grandma. Let's take a look at their answers:
17 Reasons Why Being a Grandma is the Best
- When the grandkids come over for a play-date. I get to have fun with them all day, and then their parents pick them up and bring them home.
- Going to their football and basketball games and being able to cheer them on, loudly!
- Getting Picasso-like artwork to put on my refrigerator and showing it off to anyone who comes over, including the appliance repair guy.
- Receiving the purest love that exists on Earth.
- The funny things they do, like when my granddaughter packed a suitcase, went out the window and up the street without telling anyone she was running away from home. It was completely reminiscent of when her mom was the same age. I almost had a heart attack!
- Spoiling them, even now that they’re older. They love it and I love it and we create some awesome memories.
- Being able to sing off-key with them clapping their hands and thinking I have a great voice.
- Learning from them. They’ve taught me how to do more with the computer than answer emails. Now I can navigate the internet, find websites I’m interested in, and read books and magazines online. Next, they’re going to teach me how to pay bills and do my banking online.
- Taking my grandkids to museums, Broadway shows, and Disney World and watching their eyes light up.
- Not having to worry about their homework, or having them forget to tell you about projects that are due the next day. There are no more last-minute trips to the craft store and staying up ridiculously late to make sure the work is done.
- How they make me feel young again. We run and jump around the backyard, play hide and seek, and build pillow forts together.
- The look of excitement they have when I pick them up for a day out and they don’t know where we’re going; they just want to be with me.
- When my grandson said, “Grandma, this is the best day of my whole life," after we’d been to Discovery Place and were headed to Target to get a treat.
- Baking cookies and making gingerbread houses, and then eating them before dinner!
- Sharing their innocence and becoming innocent again, even if it’s just for a short while.
- Being their confidante and letting them know I won’t say anything to anyone about what they’ve shared with me.
- Doing the things with them that I wasn’t able to do with my kids because I worked and there was just never enough time.
Cherishing Every Moment
To me, the greatest thing about being a grandma is the absolute unadulterated, unfettered, pure love my grandkids give me. I can never get enough of their hugs and kisses, and no matter how I feel when I’m with them, a smile magically appears on my lips.
Having grandkids, and having the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them, has also given me the chance to do some things differently with them than I did with their moms, and maybe, just maybe, do them better.
I no longer have a rigid work schedule so I can spend time with them when it’s important to them. When my girls were young, I was hardly ever able to get to their plays during the day or to their after school sports activities. I feel like I missed a lot of their growing up because of it. With my grandkids, I won’t miss any of those things.
Until I had grandkids, I had forgotten how wondrous a worm is, or how to explain rain or where flowers come from or the magic of a rainbow. Seeing the world through their eyes is not only an adventure, it’s giving me a good education! I’ve even learned the difference between a backhoe and a loader.
When I see one of the boys discover something for the first time – like when Cash took his first step, which completely surprised both of us, or when Ethan started drinking out of a straw, or when they figured out 2 fingers plus 2 fingers equaled four fingers – we both end up squealing with joy!
I don’t think I’ll ever take anything for granted again. And if I do, I’m pretty sure one of my grandkids will do something that will jolt me out of that rut.
I am in awe of how a young mind learns and figures things out. How my grandkids can be so literal and absolutely sure of whatever it is they’re saying.
Those are the times that give me a renewed appreciation of a child’s innate inquisitive nature, how they appreciate the smallest things and how wonderful it is to be a grandparent to share those times.
I love being a grandma.