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.

****

Mr. Peanut Butter Face

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien

Alright. Go ahead. Have lunch with your very young toddler grandchild and see if you don’t break out in song.  I dare  you.  Lunch time, dinner time, any time that food is involved, cheer and song are not far behind. 

When I finally (!) got to recording Nana’s Greatest Hits with my talented collaborator, Melissa Phillippe, it was a song about food that came first.  This wasn’t the first song I wrote , but it happens to be a favorite.  An MP3 of our recorded session is coming soon.  Hope you enjoy it.

A very young child eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in his high chair is one of the great experiences open to a grandparent.  Do not miss it.  Serve up the goods and stand back and watch.  Pretty soon you’ll be singing…  (Note: Change gender lyric as you will.)

Hey Mister Peanut Butter Face

You’ve got your lunch all over the place

And it looks as good as I bet it tastes

Mr. Peanut Butter Face

            Mr. Peanut Butter

            Bet you want another

            Mr. Peanut Butter Face

            Mr. Peanut Butter

            Grinnin’ at your mother

Mr. Peanut Butter Face

Hey little Jelly Fingers Guy

You look pretty happy and I think I know why

‘Cause the stuff in your sandwich  makes a sparkle in your eye

Little Jelly Fingers Guy

Little Jelly Fingers

Helps the flavor linger

Little Jelly Fingers Guy

Little Jelly Fingers

I’m a Jelly Singer

Little Jelly Fingers Guy

(FAST)

Mr. Peanut Butter Face, Mr. Peanut Butter Face, Mr. Peanut Butter Face!!

The STREETS of San Francisco

My second grandchild was born three years after Ethan and has shown me a whole new level of grandeur.  A granddaughter!

My son, Tom Kearney and the lovely Maura announced their pregnancy and soon after started responding to the oft-repeated and occasionally annoying question:  “What are you going to name the baby?”  Their response usually gave people (including me) some pause for thought.  They said that a good name for a boy OR a girl should honor San Francisco, the city of birth in a special way.  “We’ve decide to name the baby Taylor Mason Kearney,” Tom said (with a smirk any mother could interpret).  “Then the hip-hop name could be Streets. “

 Yeah, right -- the Streets of San Francisco.

Tracey and I were on the team for Maura’s delivery and were living in Santa Rosa.  We’d gotten news bulletins all day about them going to the hospital, going home, and the last call from Tom was well into the December evening.  He conveyed that there was no real rush, we could go back to bed and come in the morning.  Which we did until Tracey got an intuitive flash.  She got me back out of bed and we had clear sailing down the 101.  We arrived at Kaiser in S.F. just about the time Maura requested her epidural.  With seven sisters, many who had been through delivery more than once, she had gotten the lowdown on the preferred medications.

Tom had brought a catchers mitt to help with the delivery, to catch the baby if necessary.  He did his best to keep us and the hospital staff amused; Maura, not so much.  

From our arrival on, Maura was a champ, with apparent ease delivering her baby girl in pretty quick fashion, Tom could have lent the catcher’s mitt to the doctor who was surprised by the rapid progression of events that culminated in our gorgeous, blue eyed wonder – Taylor Mason Kearney.  It was clear in a minute – this IS Taylor. 

My blissed out state reminded me about how lucky I was to be present with Tom and Maura at thler delivery time. And how glad I was that Tracey was tuned in to her sister-in-law.  We were honored to be included at this deeply personal and important time.  It created a deeper bond with Maura and a forever bond with Taylor my GRANDdaughter.