One of the greatest things parents can do is have Grandchildren. I know, kids are nice, but grandchildren have a certain advantage over your own children. You can give them back.
We sailed for many years, and it was FANTASTIC! The children were all grown, working, and had lives of their own. But we didn’t have any grandchildren. We got into the routine of living on our 42’ Tayana sailboat and taking off whenever we wanted. We ended up loving the Exuma’s, southern Bahamas, and we spent four months there during three different years. One of the reasons is that it has never been below 50 degrees down there. But like I said, no grandchildren.
Our daughter Cindy gave us our first grandchild, Nicholas. Then the other kids started having children, one per year for six years. And they were all over the place. Two in Loxahatchee, Florida, two in Atlanta, Georgia, and two in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And we were in Little River, South Carolina at that time.
The grandchildren would grow up and never know each other. Not good. We came up with a plan. First, we built a house in River Hills Golf community right across from the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club where we keep the sailboat. Then we asked all the parents if they would let us have the grandchildren for a week. We could meet them somewhere and make the exchange. There was one important rule. No parents allowed during the week. This gave the parents a vacation and the grandchildren knew that I had the final word. This worked very well. We did this for nine years. The first year we started, Nicholas was 9, Jacob 8, Brooke 7, Cassie 6, Julia 5, and Tanner was 4.
After we got all the grandchildren at our house, they would have a meeting and they would all say what they wanted most during the week, then they would summarize it and present it to us. We would do our best to make it all happen. I am still amazed that the number one thing on their list was MEDIEVAL TIMES, and the boat was number two. MEDIEVAL TIMES was number one for nine years in a row. In fact, when Nicholas came to visit us later in life, he had his girlfriend with him, and they wanted to go to MEDIEVAL TIMES.
The other thing we had was, NO RULES. We found that among the six of them that they would police themselves, and it worked great. They would entertain themselves. For example, they would play Monopoly all night long. We would go to bed, and they kept playing.
Tanner, being the youngest, was proficient in skateboarding. He was very good, and he added this to the list of things to do during the week. The problem was that he was the only one wanting to do this activity. No one would support him. So, he pranced to his room, packed his bag and went into the garage. Nothing happened so he walked back to his room and acted like nothing happened. Marianne did work it out, so he did get time in the skate park.
One year we took all six of them to Bald Head Island by boat. They had a ball, and we spent the night there at the marina. There were three girls in the forward bunk, three boys in the aft bunk, and Marianne and I on the table that converted to a bunk in the galley. (Kitchen) There are no cars on Bald Head Island except work vehicles. Everything was too far for walking, so we rented a golf cart. They loved it. We went all over the Island including the Lighthouse. Of course, they all had to climb to the top. We did many things and they loved them all. They really enjoyed being together and the many “first” things we did together.
One of the most important things we did was to make a book with pictures of all the activities for each one of the grandchildren. This was theirs and they could share with their parents and friends and relive the activities. We made a copy for ourselves as well.
Please think about this and make it work if you can. The joy is endless. They are all grown now and working. Two are Police officers, four have graduated from college and all are working and healthy. Thank you, Lord.
