Nana’s Helpful Hints for Summer Fun with Grandchildren

“Unscheduled, unsupervised, playtime is one of the most valuable educational opportunities we give our children. It is fertile ground; the place where children strengthen social bonds, build emotional maturity, develop cognitive skills, and shore up their physical health.”  Jessica Lahey The Atlantic 6/20/14

OK.  I know the kids got out of school for summer vacation in May, for gosh sakes! And, most of the schools start up again next week.  At least that’s true in my little part of northern California.  So, you may have been asking -- Where are the Helpful Hints for Summer Fun that you may have been anticipating from this, your grandparent blogsite?  (True, maybe no one was holding their breath for the list and that is a good thing.)

In my tenure as Nana to Ethan and Taylor, I have had lists many pages long for stuff I wanted to do with them when I got the chance. But, I hesitate to share all that in the light of Jessica Lahey’s statement quoted above.  She points out that few children get the opportunity for any unstructured playtime and I agree with her that “doing whatever” or nothing at all is essential for all of us at ANY age. 

When Ethan was born, I lived in Bob and Tracey’s little apartment behind their house on Carrillo Street.  I got to see him every day.  He kick started my song-writing career,  (See "Nana’s Greatest Hits" blog, June 13 and "Hits Keep on Coming", July 4) and I got to spend lots of unstructured time with him. (Remember my favorite early childhood sport – baby watching?)

My time with Taylor was not quite as lavish nor unstructured, but my wish was always for the same kind of time that I got to have with Ethan.  I wrote this song when she was  2 or 3 years old (video to come) and it contains all the advice and helpful hints that I can offer in these waning days of summer vacation.  Mostly, have fun with your darling grandchildren!

I Wanna Spend Time with You

We can go in the car

We can take a walk

Sit right down and have a little talk

It doesn’t much matter what we do

I wanna spend time with you.

***

We can play in front

We can go out back

Sit right here and have a little snack

Whatever we decide to do

You're with me and I'm with you.

***

Running, jumping and playing with the ball

What we do doesn’t matter all

We can’t help laughing and when we’re done

What we are doing is having fun.

***

OR…we can crawl around

We can read a book

Sit in the garden and quietly look

When I see your face, I can see

You like spending time with me.

****