grand kids

[kardar2]

Hello,
Just curious about you grand parents. How do you cope being away from your grand kids? I dont think I could ever drag my wife very far away.

[jnharley]

We find that our children and grandchildren lead busy lives and we try not to impose on them. We try to visit at least once a year but find that they are so busy that we rarely get a chance to see them. There are lots of ways to keep in touch with cell phones, social media, Skype, etc. We do not worry about it and enjoy the time we do get to spend together. If we were in a traditional house, we would not be living where they live anyway.

[gatorcq]

You pack her up and send her to them, until the father/mother get tired of her and send her back.

Other then that there are many electronic means of staying in touch, or get her a job.

[rhianna]

We are 62 yrs old and have 10 grandchildren ages 18-2. They live in NY,OH and CA. Since we have been FT (17 yrs) we don't get to spend a lot of time with any of them, but we travel across country every year to see them. This year and last we spent 3-4 months back east for an extended visit which includes time with elderly parents. The grandchildren are great but to tell you the truth I think we sometimes place too much value on how important we feel we are to them. They seem to get along very well without us and have very complete lives whether we are there or not. When I was little I saw my grandparents in church and occasionally went to their house and they lived only a couple of miles away. When I was a teen my one grandmother lived with us for 6 months each year and went on vacations with us. I didn't like that very much but I am a lot more active with my grandkids than she was. Don't get me wrong, I love my grandchildren. I love hearing "Grandma,Grandma,Grandma" for hours on end but I am very relieved when they go home. And I love the peace and quiet of just me and my DH driving down the road. Until this year we have worked and have not been able to take any of them with us but now that we are retired it could be an option.

[Followin__the_s]

We have been full timing for the past year. We have two grandkids 6 and 4 years old. Miss them tremendously but we keep in touch on Facebook and cell phones. After being on the road for 10 months we recently went back to our home area to see and spend time with the kids and grandkids. After a month we were itching to get back on the road again. They have their own lives to live and so do we. Too much to see and do. Grateful for modern technology.

[RoadXYZ]

sdianel wrote:
We keep in touch on Facebook, email, texting and phone calls. It's more difficult when they are small. Once they get in their teens, they have their own lives which is fine. Take plenty of photos on an electronic photo display, and stay in touch.

Agree.

With grandkids between the ages of 2 and 32, we are in a totally different place than many of you. We had two boys, and 6 & 9 years later two girls, almost like two families of 2, so thus ages of gr-kids are spread like they are.

Also with children/gr-kiddos in Ontario-Canada, Virginia, and Washington, and grandchildren in Ontario, Virginia, Ohio, and Washington, and someday maybe Oregon it is hard to see them as often as we would like.

Our sons were married while our daughters were in jr & sr high, so had gr-kids before we were able to travel much, plus with sons in the military we were never as close to our older gr-kids as could have been since they were overseas much of their military years both in Europe and Okinawa areas, and at one time in Hawaii (when we couldn't afford to fly there to see them).

I like the Skype idea, but have really enjoyed Facebook for keeping in touch with the kiddos and gr-kiddos. Will say Facebook made it possible for the older gr-kiddos to learn more about their Grandparents and vice versa, as well as sharing of photos posted.

We see some of our children, gr-kids, and gr-grands weekly when we are in our home base area, and the other kids, gr-kids, gr-grands when we travel Eastwards.

[Dance_Chick]

We've struggled with this very thing since we started toying with the idea of fulltiming a little over a year ago. We have 1 GS who is 3, so he's a little young to take with us for long periods or fly him home. He lives near us and spends every Friday night and all day Saturday with us. The longest we've been away is 2 months last summer, and we are now on another 2-month trip. The only way I can see this working is to come home for 6 to 8 weeks after being gone for the same amount of time. Living in central FL would burn a lot of fuel or travel the same monotonous miles always having to come home every 2 months to get the GS fix. I envy those of you who can just wander and then stay put for a while in Anywhere USA that strikes your fancy. Someday, someday.......

[2gypsies1]

When we started full-timing 17 years ago we didn't have a cell phone or computer so we had to do it a little differently. We called on the public phone (yes, standing in one of those phone booths that are now in museums), mailed them small trinkets and constant post cards of where we were, mailed them photos of where we were, including some of ourselves. Nowdays with cell, Skype, computers, Facebook, etc. things are a lot easier.

We took them with us on trips and stayed big chunks of time at a campground near their homes on long vacations. We were always there on Christmas, birthdays - when they were younger.

It's all very doable and a lot easier these days. They honestly don't know of any other lifestyle for us and they've always had a very good relationship with us. Now the youngest is 12 and they're all into their own sports and activities but we all still see each other as much as possible.

Remember the phrase...quality rather than quanity. It works....

[stubblejumper]

Either refill theDW's Valium prescription or take them along.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

We keep in touch on Facebook, email, texting and phone calls. It's more difficult when they are small. Once they get in their teens, they have their own lives which is fine. Take plenty of photos on an electronic photo display, and stay in touch.

[MPI_Mallard]

It's year three for us full-timing and the grandkids issue was rough at first but quite frankly after a full spring/summer/fall of the grandgirls Frau Blücher now kinda' looks forward to the break that six months in Florida gives. With today's internet and Skype and magic jack family is only a call away and they come down to visit throught the winter for that "cheap family vacation" so I guess it all evens out in the end.

[Gjac]

We have the Gkids come up for the summer and make local trips and 1-2 week trips to NH and Maine. We winter in Fla. where the Gkids live and take them camping for the weekends and winter break. Last year visited some springs in Ocala and EG NP. They don't like to be awy from their video games too long.

[doxiemom11]

We have grandkids ranging from 17 mo (twins) to 19 years old. The two older girls spent a lot of time with use as they were growing up. The now have their own busy lives with college, jobs etc, so we see them around schedules in the summer. The younger grandkids 17 mo - 8 yrs old come to stay at various times thru the summer and we see them on shorter visits at their homes. The other grandkids (3 of them) are in Georgia. Their parents are missionaries and are usually in other countries. We see them every couple of years, but are not as close to them as the other because of their travels. We spend plenty of time with grandkids, but looked forward to the day when "we" could spend more time together and do what "we" wanted to do. Maybe selfish, but it's our turn now. We raised our children to be independent, and now it's their turn to raise their children. We love em all, but really enjoy just being a couple and not being Mom,Dad or Grandpa/Grandma everyday.

[Funraiser]

One of the reasons we decided to retire and full-time was to be able to spend more time with the GKs and those other people they let live with them. We have one group in the North and one group in the South. It was getting really frustrating trying to squeeze time for ourselves and for them within the timeframe of vacation time off work and long weekends. Beginning this coming weekend, we can have weeks or months with each group of kids and still have plenty of time for DH and I to do what we want to do.

[fla-gypsy]

I look forward to the day when I can take mine with me.