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Grandma Camp Books?

Way back when JMP was a tiny thing and we were just daydreaming about the time when his mother would let us have him for more than a few hours at a time, I started reading all of the books about Grandma Camp that I could find. There weren’t many and some of them were BAD. Some nice people sent me Sharon Lovejoy’s book, Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars and I enjoyed that. So I thought I’d look again… surely there would be more, new, better Grandma Camp books now.

Turns out, not so much.

Interestingly, I found myself requesting what I thought was a new Sharon Lovejoy book about Grandma Camp, (Camp Granny). Imagine my disappointment when I realized it was Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars with a new name.

So, I’m still looking for more, new, better Grandma Camp books. (Even decent grandparenting books would be nice.) Know of any?

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Grandma Camp #1 — DONE!

I know, I know! I needed another blog like I needed a whole lot of things that aren’t good for me and sure enough, months have passed since we finished our first Grandma Camp with JMP and Squish. I have about six posts, half-written in Evernote and there has just been too much other stuff going on to finish any of them. But, I’m committed to finishing them NOW. (Or at least starting to finish them now? Whatever.)

Let’s just start by saying… we did indeed hold Grandma Camp in April and we survived. Barely, kidding/not kidding/kidding.  We I also learned a lot about our grandsons and our grandmother-y natures.

Waking up #grandmacamp

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Here are some things that I learned.

  • As with a million other areas of our lives, TW and I have distinctly different approaches to grandparenting. That played out in the pre-planning and in the execution of Grandma Camp. It was generally amusing and sometimes frustrating but it was also sometimes helpful.
  • TW sees herself as a very hands on Granolay Crunchy ThatGrandma. That is obvious by the nature of her pre-planning and grand ideas for things to do (or not do) during Grandma Camp.
  • I’m not Granola Grandma. It’s not that I was against any of her ideas, I was just pretty sure we were going to be too tired and our first Grandma Camp was going to be really chaotic. Being a Grandma is exhausting — being Granola Grandma is even more so.
  • We both planned way too many things.
  • Trying to work a full 8-hour day while also doing Grandma Camp was great in theory and a little less great in execution. We did it but nobody enjoyed it all that much. I think we can do it that way again, we just have to have some better plans for rain, for conference calls, for tired toddlers, and grouchy kinders. (Not to mention tired Grandmas and antsy dogs.)
  • More OUTDOOR TIME must be scheduled AND we MUST adhere to that schedule.
  • Paint is always better than markers. I knew this but had somehow forgotten.
  • Pre-make your bubble mixture (and if you think you already have bubble mixture, double check before the grandchildren arrive because you probably do not have bubble mixture.)
  • Remove all of the COCKWAT (chocolate) from the house before the kids arrive and do not cave to the demands for COCKWAT. Once COCKWAT is provided, only COCKWAT will do.
  • Don’t plan too many “new” foods/dishes when the picky eater is attending Grandma Camp. And by too many, I mean more than one per camp is too many.
  • It might seem like bathing these two boys at the same time is a great idea. It really usually isn’t. And while one is bathing, the other MUST be distracted elsewhere. No watching/helping allowed.

There’s more, but those are the big ones. And those are the lessons I’m going to be reminding myself of when we do this again. (And we will be doing it again. Soon. And, often.)