In episode 3 of Modern Grandparenting podcast, Jim and Corinne give you plenty of ideas on how to help out your families during the school year. With busy schedules and plenty of activities, there’s still room for the grandparents!
Grandparenting gets a little harder during the school year. In the summer, everyone is looking for ways to keep the kids active and happy. So, it’s easy for Grandma or Grandpa to take the kids for a couple of days, or just see them often. However, when school starts suddenly it might seem like they just don’t have time for you.
We don’t want this to happen to you, so we’ve come up with lots of ideas of how you can stay connected to your grandkids throughout the school year and helping to keep some sanity in their households as well. Mom and Dad will gladly let you take some of the burden off of them if you are willing.
Episode 3 – Show Notes
0:53 – Grandkids first day of school
3:00 – What not to do
6:57 – Be the memory keeper
9:20 – Schedules
10:38 – Helping out at the grandkids schools
13:02 – School lunch
15:42 – Volunteering
20:16 – Help grandkids with homework
24:00 – Be the Driver
25:15 – Things to buy for back to school
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Full Transcript of Podcast
Jim 0:03
welcome to our weekly podcast, modern grand parenting where we discuss issues that grandparents have to deal with, in this changing world, for maintaining the best relationships with both our children and grandchildren, giving you all kinds of ideas of what to do during the year, and hopefully making memories that are going to last a lifetime. In this episode, we’ll talk about how to help out
Corinne 0:24
during the school year. Getting ready for school is one of those things that everyone looks forward to. But boy, can it be stressful. And I think this year, it’s especially stressful because it’s been a strange couple of years. And who knows, maybe this one won’t be that different. Hopefully, the pandemic is on the downslide. And we can all go back to having everyone at school and life getting back to normal. But as we’ve learned over the last couple, we need to be flexible, ready
Jim 0:53
and be ready. While it’s a new school year, everyone’s excited. But this is a time when the parent is the most important. You have to keep in mind, as a grandparent. It’s an exciting time of year for us. It’s an exciting time of year for everybody. But it’s not our special moment. We’ve had that special moment with our kids going to school, now it’s your, your children’s, the parents turn, it’s their time to have that special moment sending their kids to school. But you can certainly be a part of it. And that’s what this podcast is going to be all about.
Corinne 1:32
We really feel that. Education is important. We’re both teachers. And we, we just believe that education is one of the most important things that a kid needs to learn how to be a lifelong learner, and really be excited about learning and parents. As hard as that can be needed to really sort of enjoy being the parent of a school child as well, even though you’re letting go of some of that control. But how can grandparents help like, even though like Jim said, it’s not our turn to be the stars,
Jim 2:09
but we still want to be part of it.
Corinne 2:11
Yeah, we want to be part of it. And we we love those kids, right? We love all those kids, little ones and the big ones. And we just really want to help out. So we’ve brainstormed a few ways that you might have thought about and you may not have thought about we’d like to know, what’s something they can start to do?
Jim 2:28
Well, you know, we always, we always hear how can grandma and grandpa help out during the day I heard this as a teacher. And as we are researching, being grandparents ourselves, we’re coming across the same questions. And there’s a lot of things you can do without being without being the star of the show. That’s actually the students role. And the parents are the lead support staff. And your role is to just be there to help everybody to help everybody and make sure everything is working smoothly.
Corinne 3:00
I think there’s one disclaimer here, the one thing you should not do is go out and buy school supplies or a backpack for that child unless mom and dad says that’s okay. Because even though they can get expensive. I think parents look forward to give them their kids ready for school that year. The same thing with buying clothes and shoes and stuff. I think those are all things that if mom and dad says it’s okay, you can do but don’t do it without asking first because that puts you more in a higher role that they might want you to have not consciously. And that being mean, just that it’s their time,
Jim 3:39
it’s a milestone for the parent as much as it is for the child. It’s a milestone for the grandparent too. But like I said before, you had that milestone already as the parent Now it’s your turn as the grandparent, and you know, don’t go into it, saying, okay, you’re going to need school supplies. What can I get? Don’t put the parent in the position where they feel like they have to give up some of that role. Their milestone, if they want to share, they want to share it. But if you go in and you ask, you know, what can I buy? They’re going to try and find something that you can buy. And they might tell you to go and do it. instead. I think a better way to do that would be to offer services. Some services?
Corinne 4:25
Yeah, I think unfortunately, we we tend as Americans as a very economically lucky society, we tend as well as, for the most part, we tend to think that we need to always buy something, we don’t always have to buy something. Giving of ourselves and giving services I think sometimes mean a little bit more than money. Not that you can’t do that too. If it’s if it’s warranted or if the parents are like Yeah, sure. Buy a couple outfits for them. Yeah, go It definitely I mean, clothes are expensive, that’s fine, and then
Jim 5:03
need more than one or two outfits anyway, so after mom and dad have had that chance, I think that’s definitely a good way to a good thing to do, but with their permission. So and maybe the family is financially strapped, and they do need that help. In that case, you know, give them the chance still to have that, that event in their life where they can go back to school shopping with their child, maybe you can go with them, and pay for it at the counter.
Corinne 5:33
Or maybe you can find like a target or some type of gift card that’s going to take the most of the financial burden off the parent who’s struggling. And you could give them that and they can still have that experience with their kid. But I think as a parent, of a parent, you want them to feel right, important men and feel like you are really giving towards your child’s education and that you’re encouraging them to love school. So give them that give them that that’s a gift right there. Just give them that chance to do it for themselves. I think that’s really important. We’ll get back to more things. Maybe we can spend money on our purchase later. But right now, let’s talk about a few other ways that you can help. Sure, well,
Jim 6:21
well, I mean, I don’t want to keep hammering the idea of that being a milestone, it’s an important event for the family, especially the younger the child is, the more new going to school is, you know, for kindergarten, first grade, this is a huge, huge deal for the child and the parent. And it’s a huge deal for the grandparents to you should definitely you can still be a part of it. You’re just not the starring role. So if you are going with mom and dad, and the child to school, that’s okay. But step back, be the photographer, you know, be there. act silly. What do you think? Well,
Corinne 7:03
I think that cell phones are winter, aren’t they? Right? So here you are, I think that if the whether the child’s entering kindergarten or middle school, or even high school, or just going from grade to grade, it’s it’s an exciting day that everybody wants to be involved in. But you didn’t what’s really cool, like I have no, I think I have zero pictures of me participating with my kids in school, I think I have zero pictures of you participate with my kids, because we were always photographers. So take that step back, you get to be there, you get to be a part of it, you get to be a support. But at the same time, you can take the photos, you can take video of mom walking with his kids to school of dad holding their hands and kissing them goodbye at the at the door. There are so many ways to help that you don’t have to be the star and the same token you can interview your grandchildren say, okay, Sally, you’re going into second grade, what are you looking forward to, or maybe you want to have the whole family jump off the steps of the school for a great shot. I mean, there are so many things to do to commemorate the day that that you can be a part of, and mom and dad will be so thankful for that. And so that you get to be the star of both their eyes, which I think is kind of cool, too.
Jim 8:25
Well, it’s your child that’s having this big event in their life and your grandchild that’s having those big event if you want to be a part of it.
Corinne 8:33
Yeah, speaking of which, the first day of school isn’t the only time that you can relate
Jim 8:37
to so much happening in a school where you can always get involved.
Corinne 8:41
I think if you take the role on as being the family photographer, so if there’s an event, first of all, you know, you’ll be at night, because you provide such great pictures. You’ve got an ID for that. But also I mean, it’s just great to be able to see your kids interacting with with their kids. And what what a history that is
Jim 9:02
a selfie shot that selfie group shot. Why are there?
Corinne 9:05
Oh, yeah, I mean, of course, you’ll get in some churches as well.
Jim 9:09
So but one of the things you need to make sure you do early on in the school year so that you can be there for these things is to know when these things are happening. And there’s a couple ways you can do that your child is probably going to or your grandchild is probably going to come home with a schedule of events for the year or calendar, get a copy of it. If they don’t have that there’s almost always something on the school’s website. Most classroom teachers have websites that have important events. Get that information, favorite those into your browser so you can check them regularly. Ask your your grandchild, periodically, you know what’s happening this month what’s happening next week. Sometimes things don’t make the calendar or don’t make the thing so you don’t want to miss them
Corinne 9:58
or times change and And there’s nothing worse, then let’s say that there’s a Christmas program. And you plan on the Christmas program the first week in December. Well, the kids in clang get ready in time. Now it’s the second week of December. And on that Wednesday night, you have a dinner date. There’s nothing, nothing worse than that happening. So try to make it a priority to keep the calendar as up to date as possible, so that you can be the photographer so you can be the historian so that you can be there when your grandchildren have those special events. Everybody wants to be there. Yeah.
Jim 10:37
So what else can you do?
Corinne 10:38
Well, there’s lots of things I mean, schools have fundraisers, schools have science shows schools have a time when you can go in and buy
Jim 10:47
books. There’s classroom libraries that always need books. Yeah.
Corinne 10:50
So as a even if you just want to give a financial help to the school or the classroom, you can always do that there are ways to help out. The teacher always needs things. You can ask them if they want something, don’t ask when the first day they’re busy. But there’s always things that that people need. And actually, you can probably predict that there’s not going to be enough hand sanitizer or there’s not going to be enough Kleenex, or there’s not going to be enough disposable masks or something. That, of course, we’re all very well aware of nowadays. But even things like pencils, or crayons or scissors, erasers, erasers,
Jim 11:34
things that just check out with the teacher, that teacher will be more than happy to let you know what they’re short on and what they’re not short on. So you don’t get the extra stuff they don’t need. Don’t bring elmers glue. Nobody knows school teacher needs any more bottles of elmers glue. How many balls of that stuff I had to throw away? Because it had been in the closet for a year, two years?
Corinne 11:55
You don’t want the kids play with that? How many of you ate glue as a child? Raise your hand? Yeah. But I know. Exactly. But you know, you know, Jim and I are big on not always, not always spending money. We feel that actions are just as important. And one of the things that the schools are always encouraging people to do is to volunteer or to help out in the school. Research shows that if you are involved, if the parents are involved, or the grandparents are involved in the child’s school day, that and theirs, and they have a good relationship with a teacher and me are very supportive, that they’re going to do better in school. And actually, overall, they’re going to have less anxiety and less emotional
Jim 12:44
issue. Children stay more involved longer.
Corinne 12:48
And it just it gives that feeling that school is important. So so many other things you can do.
Jim 12:53
Like I, I had so many times where grandparents were visiting, and
Corinne 13:01
because of them to overseas, right?
Jim 13:02
And well, right? But that can happen anywhere. And the parents would call or email and say, can the grandparents come and visit the classroom? Can they go to lunch, and I was more than happy to, to allow that. And most schools will definitely need to check with the school on what their requirements are for a visitor to the school or a volunteer for the school. They’re different everywhere. So make sure you’re aware of that. But once you are nothing lit up my students lives more than the day that grandma or grandpa was coming to have lunch with them. Just all morning long. Is it lunchtime yet? Is it my grandparents are coming, you know, in a way kind of becomes disruptive, but at the same time, it’s a good disruption. And it’s it feels special to watch. Yeah, and it just makes the child feel that special. So go eat lunch with with your grandchild at school, or bring lunch with you bring lunch for the class,
Corinne 14:05
you bring lunch to the class or you don’t have to go that much out either. You could even say to your granddaughter, why don’t you who’s your best friend in school? Isabella, why don’t you invite Belle to have lunch with us?
Jim 14:17
at the table with you. They consider
Corinne 14:18
the table you can go to McDonald’s and pick up McDonald’s for them get me to Happy Meal or something. You cannot I mean, you can’t do better than that. My kids will remember that forever.
Jim 14:29
But you know with with anything you’re doing for the school, it’s really important to check in. You don’t want to just intrude, think you can do whatever you want. Because that’s not really always the case. If you’re bringing something for the whole class, you really need to make sure that that it’s something that everybody can in the class can enjoy or even eat for that matter. There’s a lot of allergies out there. You need to be aware of that stuff.
Corinne 14:55
And not only that, but teachers have specific times that they want Do you like birthday parties or treats for the kid got to be coordinated, because you don’t want to disrupt learning. I mean, the reason they’re there is to learn, it’s not to have parties, right. And sometimes it’s hard for parents or maybe grandparents to understand. But I think really, the key here is that you have this open communication with the teacher. And if she knows that, or he knows that you are a grandparent who wants to be involved, and then they will welcome that. And they will do everything in their power to they’re going to
Jim 15:31
Yeah, they’ll do everything in their power to, to try and accommodate it. And you know, be understanding, if you can’t do it, if it’s not something that’s allowed, or if it’s not welcomed, then find other avenues. And don’t be upset about it,
Corinne 15:45
one of the things you can do is, is volunteering your kids classrooms, your grandkids classrooms, for sometimes an hour a week, sometimes an hour a month, sometimes just as things happen, go on a field trip as a chaperone. Maybe it’s a science fair, like I mentioned before, and you can help set up the science projects in the MPR. Or there are so many ways to volunteer. And if you are someone who is irregular, then the teacher will find a job for you to do that suits your skills and and what you want to do, as well as what’s needed in the classroom. For example, I had a grandparent once that came in, who wanted to only read with kids, which, okay, I mean, there’s nothing that you need more as a especially a younger elementary student, than to have people really listening to your kids read and helping them read. So basically, she just grabbed a book, and she would have them come and read to her and she would pick out the ones they just raised their hand, everybody wanted to read to her. And she didn’t know which ones might have had learning disabilities, or were on lower reading level, if the if she picked a book that was hard for them to read, she just read the majority of it, you know, whatever they could pipe in, it doesn’t have to be a big deal.
Jim 17:07
makes the job a stressful thing.
Corinne 17:11
And so that could be something that you offer, or you get off for making copies or you feel offer. Helping put together an art project. I mean, whatever you like to do, you know, they’re going to be doing those kinds of things, and you can help set up
Jim 17:25
science experiments. That was a lot of work. And I would definitely have appreciated help with that.
Corinne 17:33
Um, yeah.
Jim 17:35
So I think that, like we said earlier, coordination with the school is key. But it’s going to be really important to your grandchild, to have this sort of thing happen. And if you’re a long distance, grandparent, you’ve got that schedule of events, schedule your trips to coincide with one or two of those big events, so that not only are you there for the whole family, but you can be there for those school events too.
Corinne 18:06
Or, you can also help out and do things online with the kittens. For example. I had a I have a project, it was a family history project. Well, what better person to interview than your grandma or grandpa. So I have a couple of kids who interviewed via, well, it was Skype them but it could be zoom me It could be FaceTime, it can be whatever. And they interviewed their grandparents. And then they brought that and showed it to the kids at the school. We even had one person who had had an extraordinary experience hiking the Alps. And they just thought this was so cool. So they brought their presentation from we call them live at the end of our day of the beach. It was the beginning of their day. So they had to get up a little early. But we set up a Skype call and grandma and grandpa told us about their trip, and everybody was just enthralled. It was like watching TV, but this was Sally’s grandparents. How cool is that?
Jim 19:11
Right? Yeah, maybe you’ve got a special skill that coincides with a science lesson or a history lesson or something like that, for example, zoom into your class and share that.
Corinne 19:22
When AJ gets to the point where he’s learning about the Berlin Wall. His mother and Gemini helped tear down that berlin wall. We were there. We were part of history. So I mean, what what better experiences say not only am I learning about this cold war time of history, but my parents and grandparents were part of it through
Jim 19:45
it and share that with the class. Not only does it you know help the whole class and helps the teacher but it gives the grandchild that much more interest interest bearing price. In the family. So that’s really cool.
Corinne 20:03
So think of ways that you can help out in the classroom or from the class, outside of the classroom that will be helpful to the kid is the child, your children as well. For example, one thing that all kids need help with homeless homework phone a friend,
Jim 20:20
you can be the phone a friend,
Corinne 20:22
UK, doesn’t matter where you are for that, yeah.
Jim 20:27
Well, if you’re not great in math, you might struggle with that. I don’t know, I have a lot of so many parents and grandparents who had come to me in fourth grade, once a bat in first grade, most of the parents and grandparents were good at first grade. But by fourth grade, the math is getting a little confusing. So what I suggested to them was to try and stay ahead of the child, so know where your child is at, in their lessons, and do a little research on your own.
Corinne 20:58
And plus, there’s math programs online like Khan Academy, yeah, that will show you exactly where they should be, and what kinds of things they’ll be doing. So if you know your kids or your grandkids are getting into fractions, which believe me fractions, and division is probably the two hardest things for upper elementary to loan, if you know they’re getting into that, that phase of their life, brush up on it, brush up on it, get ready for some fun faction things that you can do online, like baking a pie and cutting it up into six. Or, you know, and talking about how that you make a fraction, two pieces out of six is to six, or it’s also 1/3. And you can actually show that with your pie, things like that, that you don’t have to do more than just sort of be there. And, and, and kind of work it in when you’re on a video phone call. And it doesn’t have to be a big deal,
Jim 21:55
right? And don’t be afraid to say, I don’t know how to do this, let’s learn it together. Yeah, and have the student teach you as much as they can remember and then go from there. So being I think being helpful with homework is a great way for grandparents to get involved.
Corinne 22:12
If you aren’t far away, and you and maybe you have the the luck to be not far from where Little Johnny is, then you can either go to his house when he needs help with homework, or he can go to yours. Or you can take him out once a week to a cafe and say, you know, what are you learning, let’s practice some of your multiplication facts. Let’s do this. Just an extra little special outing. But
Jim 22:38
let’s let’s write a synopsis on where you’ve been so far. And if you’re the aftercare provider, or if you live that close, have a homework station setup in your house, where the child can come in and do homework. And that should be part of their time with you. And not as stressful or difficult time. Like I said, No one, and this is what I always told my families, no one should be stressing about this homework, it’s a chance for you to learn it together or to work together or just to be together. And try to have as much fun as with it as you can. If you if you’re not getting it neither you nor the grandchild, configure it out. Put it aside, work on something else.
Corinne 23:24
It should be a good experience for sure. And the last thing that as a caveat to all this is that neither parents or grandparents should be doing the homework for the child. Right? That’s not teaching them anything, but how to cheat really, yeah. And that’s not good for anyone. Plus, you can tell when you’re looking at any homework or project who had as the teacher
Jim 23:49
or helpers who didn’t know the capabilities of the student, and when something comes back, that’s obviously not within their capabilities, you know.
Corinne 23:59
So that’s just sad for everyone. So
Jim 24:00
keep it fun, but don’t do it for them. Definitely. What else you can also help with the driving I
Corinne 24:07
think this is probably one of the biggest ones. If you’re in the vicinity of where your your grandchildren live, then during the school year driving, to school, driving to soccer practice driving to Girl Scouts driving to whatever just becomes such a chore. If you can just take one of them a week, or if you can take them to school each day or whatever you and mom and dad work out. If you can take some of that burden. You are going to be the hero for everyone. And let me tell you something else that we found with our children is that being in the car with them is one of the most perfect times to have a great conversation because there’s nothing else to do really driving. You’ve got their sole attention. So what a great time to speak Then turn off the screen,
Jim 25:01
turn off the podcast, and talk about their day. Talking about your day, if they don’t want to talk about their day, just get the conversation started. And more often than not, it’ll continue.
Corinne 25:15
Alright, so then let’s get back to money a little bit, because that is one of the easier ways to contribute to a back to school. And back to school is expensive. Those those supply lists can sometimes brand new.
Jim 25:28
Well, the older they get,
Corinne 25:30
especially the older they get more and more and more expensive, just I mean, they get to high school and you have to buy a calculator scientific.
Jim 25:39
But so maybe that is what you can do is you can be the grandparent can be the calculator buyer.
Corinne 25:46
As long as you ask mom or dad,
Jim 25:47
yeah, what they want, you don’t want to buy something that that is not needed, or not appropriate.
Corinne 25:53
But I also think if you want to think outside the box a little bit, there are so many ways that you could help mom and dad, as well as being a part of that excitement with your grandchild. For example. One of the most frustrating times for me as a parent, was when I was getting my kids up to go to school. I don’t know if you guys have this issue or not.
Jim 26:17
Students for sure advance
Corinne 26:19
will get it and then you go back to their room again. Get up, it’s time to get up. You got to get up now. Get in the shower, go take, go eat breakfast, go do this, go do that. Blah, blah, blah. Where’s your stuff? Oh, yeah, yeah, I just, that was my least favorite time of the day.
Jim 26:33
So how can a grandparent help with that?
Corinne 26:36
Well, I think that this is a great chance, depending on the age of the kid, of course, it’s by an alarm clock and teach them hey, look what a big kid you are. Now it’s time for you to get up on your own. What time do you need to get out to be ready for school? Is that 630? Is that seven o’clock? Is it 715?
Jim 26:54
Whatever it is, this is your chance to help your mom and dad get ready for the day too.
Corinne 26:58
And they have a brand new alarm. That responsibility. I like that idea. Yeah, so I think that’s one way
Jim 27:04
The earlier you start the better, because with all habits, the earlier they start good habits, the longer they last.
Corinne 27:12
And boy, if mom never knows that frustration, when again,
Jim 27:17
given the gift.
Corinne 27:19
Another thing along the same lines to would be maybe buying them maybe starting a tradition. Every year when mom and dad buy school supplies and you’re getting ready for that new school. Maybe you buy the child a new toiletries kit so that they get up in the morning and they have their new toothbrush or their new comb or brush or their new hairbands anything that you know, you can get those like themed Hello Kitty, or what are some other ones like Marvel brother Marvel Comics, if you could do anything and and this is definitely in support of going to school and starting a new year and being responsible for yourself. But at the same time, it’s not stepping on the toes of mom buying the lunchbox in the backpack. That’s really cool. Because that stuff that they want to buy, right. So maybe this could be one of your little things that you do every year doesn’t matter if they’re going into first grade or if they’re going into 11th grade, they get a new little toiletry kit that fits their, their stage of life and the things that they want for being ready for school. I think that’s a great idea. And as they’re
Jim 28:32
getting older, another thing you could do is make a book a menu book, a cookbook, I guess, not the things needs to be cooked. But cookbook of sandwich and lunch menu items that the child can put together themselves as they get older especially
Corinne 28:51
then they can make their own little sandwiches or they can go in the fridge and grab out the cherry tomatoes and the pretzels and put them in to their sandwich. They’ve done most of the work. And not only do they have the pride of making their own lunch, but again, it’s one less thing that mom has to do right
Jim 29:08
and they’re building more responsibility. You could also take them out for some clothes shopping. But again, you don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. You don’t want to seem to be intruding and trying to steal away the moment because that that first you know that first day of school, shopping before school for clothes is a really big deal. And it should be it should be for the family. But you can definitely also supplement supplement. Add an outfit or two of your own
Corinne 29:42
and maybe you just wait a bit. Yeah, and buy some school clothes. You know in October women’s or November. If it’s starting to get cold you can buy the new winter coat or something. So just try to be mindful of not stepping on mom and dad’s toes because they they deserve they done definitely deserve having that. That feeling of oh my gosh, how exciting the kids going back to school along those lines. You know one way to really, I mean, Mama Daddy, your kids. So this is this is a special time for them.
Jim 30:16
What about a gift for that celebrate their moment? Yeah, bring coffee that first day of school bring coffee and doughnuts or bagels or whatever your family likes to have as a special breakfast treat. Bring that with you. So they don’t have to do the cooking that morning and get everybody ready for school.
Corinne 30:34
Or you can even make a little survival kit for mom and dad. I mean, not only is that exciting, but it’s your baby’s going to kindergarten, and they’re probably
Jim 30:48
physically exhausting, is for that first week of school. Oh my goodness.
Corinne 30:52
So whether the kids are older or younger, a survival kit would be kind of cute. And that can be another tradition that you do just where Mom and Dad, you buy them a little survival kit, which could be a bottle of wine, or like Jim said, you can give them a coffee card or bath bubbles or a coupon for free babysitting for a night out or gift certificates to their favorite restaurant. There are so many different ways
Jim 31:16
you know what they like, take him out to breakfast after you drop off the key. Yeah. So
Corinne 31:20
have that morning where you’ve walked the kids to school or taking them in, in the car. And you’ve done all the videotaping, and everybody’s on a nice Hi. And mama Danner, like you could take both of them, or one of them, whoever’s working out to breakfast. And that could be a tradition. I mean, it’s nice to have traditions with your older kids as well as your grandkids. Yeah, as the parents of the kids. Because, as you know, when you have kids, your life becomes secondary. As a parent, your life is secondary.
Jim 31:51
So as a tertiary as a grandparent kind
Corinne 31:54
of is. But you can highlight both of them and make them both feel special and
Jim 31:58
still have both relationships. But you still have the parents relationship. And now you have the grandchild relationship. And there are both equally important, absolutely talked about if you love your grandchild more than you love your child in a previous episode. And we came to the conclusion that we love them both the same, just in different ways. I think it’s important to not forget that it’s, you really want to celebrate the parents moments too.
Corinne 32:27
And sometimes we forget that, unfortunately, yeah. We just we sort of fall into that whole thing that it’s all about the kid. But the kid can be your kid. Yeah. As old as they might be. Well, to be honest, we haven’t fully experience and in our grandson off to school, yeah, no,
Jim 32:44
he is not going to school quite yet.
Corinne 32:48
But we Bufton teachers for a very long time. And we know how important it is that the entire family gets behind education.
Jim 32:56
We’ve seen grandparents involved, we’ve seen it work, and we’ve seen it not work.
Corinne 33:01
Mostly I’ve seen it work, though, there’s not really a whole lot you can do wrong. As far as being in contact with the school and doing things that way the
Jim 33:12
communication went wrong was when there was no communication, and the grandparents just shut up. And we still made a work. And it was still I think really a great moment for the child. But you don’t want to add that stress to somebody else’s life if you don’t need to.
Corinne 33:29
Yeah, I agree with that teachers are hard workers. And okay, so getting back to school, it’s a busy time for anybody. And you have to remember that you’re not going to be the for thought in the parents mind right now what they’re concentrated in is getting their kids ready for school. So unless you come up and you think ahead of time, and you think how can I be a constant in my grandkids life, and you have that conversation with mom and dad about how you can help out. They’re not going to think about you. It’s just too much right there. They don’t have time to think about you. That’s your role. So that’s part of your job is I mean, unless you don’t care. I mean, that’s up to you too. I
Jim 34:13
mean, there’s, I wouldn’t be listening if he didn’t care.
Corinne 34:16
That night. That might be true. But my point is, you know, whether you’re driving, whether you’re buying just a gift, every year of toiletries, whether you are volunteering in the school, whatever you decide to do, do it well. And make it easy on the parents to include you make it easy on the teacher to include you if that’s the case. Don’t be intrusive.
Jim 34:39
Yeah, maintain, maintain the conversation. Yeah. And enjoy,
Corinne 34:44
and enjoy. Well, thanks for joining us on this week loving grandparents. For more things on grandparent team and all the issues that surround them, go to our private Facebook group. chime in with your thoughts and wisdom. To be accepted to the group. All you have to do is answer a few questions. We love it when our podcast generates a good discussion, because that’s what we’re here for. We’re here learning to be the perfect grandparents.
Jim 35:13
Also, don’t forget to subscribe and please leave a review. That’s how we get discovered. Well, thanks again and
Corinne 35:21
happy grandparenting
Transcribed by https://otter.ai