Grandmothers? Grandfathers?

Here I am --Grammy to two city kids who spend 4-6 weeks with me every summer. I am a teacher and have the summer off, so have been hosting the kids for years now. Isabella is from Florida near Miami and is 11 years old this summer. Magnolia is 8 this year, from a bigger city about an hour from here. Her mom is a single parent so I have been watching her since she was days old. Bella only started staying three years ago. She will be here July 1. Factor in the neighbor boys, Edwin and Christopher-- 10 and 6, who are over here as much as the girls are at their house- and you will see that I have earned my credentials as entertainer/caregiver.

Now this town is small--about 1,000 people so you might think that city kids would find it boring but Isabella, especially, loves the slow pace. She brags that Kansas is better than Florida (They live near Hollywood Beach and go often, so this strikes me as strange.I'd take a beach over dust and tumbleweeds any day!) because you don't have to do something every day!She insisted on coming this summer, after I was afraid that she had outgrown us.

So rule #1--Doing nothing is important, don't over plan. Make a weekly trip to the library and stock up on kiddy crafts. Bella learned to knit last year and knits for an hour or two every afternoon. Mazzy reads her books and I read to them for an hour in the afternoon if we don't go swimming. We were reading the Little House stories last summer. We have a garden, a hammock and Leggos. They each have a bike. A few years ago I fixed a lot of flat tires but then Edwin learned how. He does the job for three dollars OR a ginger ale float.

The girls can't ride bikes alone in their hometowns but I send them to the store and pool and library on their own and they love it. (Of course I do follow them in the car but they don't know that. People around here laugh because I will park at the city square and hide by the fountain while they do their errands and then beat them home)

#2 the stars are a big attraction! Bella never sees them because of the city lights. Bella had heard of the Big Dipper but had never actually seen it!!! The neighbor boys showed it to her and after that she had to find the Milky Way and see a falling star. We checked out star books and sit out in the garden to star watch most nights before bed. Because it is so hot here in the afternoons, the kids play out till eleven. They play a BRAND NEW GAME called Kick the Can that Edwin's uncle just invented last summer! Better than tv they say! Of course there are lightning bugs, cold ginger ale and flashlight tag. The boys have a trampoline. We have a playhouse. Oh and the county fair has a photography and garden competition for kids. I enter photos, usually of them, and I work the flower exhibit so we spend a couple of mornings at the Fair. Contact the County extension about rules for kid exhibits.

Ask me anything--s6

Each time we babysit my grand daughter I have a list of joint activities to both entertain, teach and expand her horizons. Here's a sample list, all adapted by age (she's six at the moment):

1. Brain teasers - if she gets it right she gets a quarter she can apply to what ever she wants (like popcorn at the movies)
2. I show her magic tricks
3. Each morning I pick a topic (snakes, birds, protozoa, nebula, etc) and we watch a youtube video on that subject together. I make up a list of questions and again, if she gets it right there's a quarter
4. I pick a topic like forms of government, geological concepts, countries, etc. My wife and I discuss them with her and the one's she remembers, yet a quarter again.
5. We do word puzzles, build structures with erector sets, my wife teaches her crafts, I teach her mechanical concepts, for fun
6. She and I fish, catch crawdads, hunt, harvest weeds you can eat, and explore the woods to learn about nature.
7. My wife is the artist so she teaches her to draw
8. We watch kids movies either at the theater or on netflix

Bunch more but that gives ya a feel.