Brave Grandparenting!

I remember when our first grandchild was born my husband worried he wouldn’t know how to be a grandfather. I told him not to worry. When he held that precious baby boy for the first time, he’d know just what to do as his heart filled with love.

Now we’re the proud grandparents of eleven grandchildren and the three oldest are already in college. We have four children, each with their own unique parenting style, and our challenge was to find our Grandparenting style, while still honoring the parent’s wishes. If you’re a grandparent, you know just what I mean.

When our three grandchildren who live close to us come to visit, it’s Grammie and Grampa’s rules and time schedule and our daughter is just fine with it. The other three sets of parents, not so much, but that’s okay. We’ve learned to work with it and adapt to each family’s routines.

We love having our grandchildren visit, as I’m sure you do too, but our schedule and routines change radically. We stay up later than usual, get up earlier, and eat more “kid food.” We’re going nonstop keeping them busy and making memories we hope will last long after we’re gone.

I find our days go so much smoother if we start the day at breakfast with a short devotional. I have them bring their age-appropriate Bibles and enjoy using a devotional that has a theme word for them to remember each day with a few discussion questions and prayer.

Then comes the time when they want to bring friends for sleepovers. A night or two is usually doable, depending on the friend. But last year when I was on a tight deadline for my new book Everyday Brave: Living Courageously as a Woman of Faith, two granddaughters were scheduled to come to our house for a week for their annual drama camp at our local outdoor theater. But this time was different. They each asked if they could each bring a friend, ages ten-twelve. I told them I would pray about it and let them know.

We live in a rural area so I couldn’t take them to the mall or movies if they got bored, and they couldn’t go home if they got homesick. They’d have to amuse themselves in the afternoons on our trampoline, the local pool, library, and river. Plus, did I mention I was on a book deadline!

But then the Lord reminded me how blessed I was that my granddaughters wanted to bring their friends to our house. They enjoyed our home and us so much they wanted to share with their BFFs. So of course, I said yes. Their parents were actually shocked. People, including the parents, said I was “brave.” Yes, that’s the word they all used, brave.

It would mean extra work and a sacrifice of my writing time and probably energy and sleep, but I didn’t look at this opportunity as a sacrifice or even brave. My granddaughters wanted to bring their besties and their besties wanted to come. Somehow, we must have done something right as grandparents. I felt honored and blessed—we were leaving a legacy.

About Everyday Brave: In Everyday Brave, Janet explores the extraordinary bravery of fifty ordinary women in the Bible. Twenty-eight women of today also give testimonies of realizing their strength and courage through God’s love. As Janet shares the stories of these women, she reminds us that the real heart and substance of bravery comes from unconditionally placing our hope in the only One who can give us the courage to stay the course.