Grandparenthood

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Our family life is interesting to say the least.
Three of the grandchildren live upstairs with their Mom and Dad (my son.)  Soon there will be four.
D is a very strong mother figure with her own way of doing things.  She should be.  I should let her be.  That has been the hardest adjustment. 
Of course I also have stuck to my beliefs about motherhood

Comments

[sachem_head]

It's interesting how personalized our parenting strategies can be. I'm sure there are reasons. I think I'm much closer to your thoughts on food. My dad was always a proponent of the "clean plate club." It will be interesting to see how our food traditions develop as A. grows older and begins to show preferences. She eats pretty well now (and with much gusto) although she definitely gravitates to her old standbys. She loves almond butter (she calls peanut butter, "peanut almond butter") and Annie's mac 'n' cheese (which she refers to as "noo noos"), but she's also a big fan of fruit and jam and yogurt. We don't really punish her right now. We talk to her sternly sometimes. That might have to change at some point. Neither one of us are really disciplinarians.

Boy I couldn't live with my mother-in-law.

[redbaydreamer]

Even now, I am not sure if we were the only ones who could care for her if I could do it. We get along because we live so far apart and see each other so little. I don't think my parenting style is that much different from A and L's but if we had to live together I am sure there would be rubs. I think their cluttered way of living would be a bigger problem for me. Even to prepare the house for the dog I picked up stuff that I thought might become a problem. I would definitely insist on that if I were a regular caregiver of my granddaughter, it would make things simpler for me. I also think that communication is the key to most relationships. That is the problem that I have with my mother-in-law she really doesn't communicate well how she is feeling or what her needs are. If I had to interact with her more I would have to figure out how to use "I" messages with her. When you do(or say) this I feel that. It is always so much easier to see things in hind sight or from a distance, when you are right there in the "mess" it is so