The 24-hour-a-day job, always being there with your child physically, will fly by before you know it. Eventually, they will be old enough to spend the night with other family members, which means they get to spend a weekend with grandma and grandpa. Not only will this give you and your spouse some much-earned time to be together without your kids present, and your kids will get a break from you as well.
Having grandparents in your children’s lives is a blessing for them to feel the extended love and to realize that their own parents have parents as well. In order to make the visit to their grandparents’ home a pleasant one for all involved, here are six ways to get your little ones ready for some fun with their elders.
1.) Jigsaw Puzzles
Game nights don’t have to only be restricted to board games among players in the same physical room. When your children visit their grandparents, you could choose games to play on Facetime with them remotely, such as solving jigsaw puzzles remotely on smartphones, laptops, or tablets.
Here are three of the many benefits of jigsaw puzzles for kids, and adults for that matter.
- Jigsaw puzzles exercise the left side of your brain (logic) and the right side of your brain (creativity and intuitiveness.)
- Jigsaw puzzles improve your short-term memory and reinforce connections between brain cells, improving mental speed.
- Jigsaw puzzles enhance your visual-spatial reasoning, which helps with driving a car, packing, using a map, learning, and following dance moves.
2.) Comfortable Place to Sleep
Prior to your child spending nights with their grandparents, there needs to be a comfortable place for them to sleep. Make sure your children are heading over with pillows, blankets, and sheets if necessary.
Studies have shown that the benefits of children who get enough rest include: better attention span, improved behavior, as well as better memory, learning capacity, and physical health.
But what is the right amount of sleep for children to get? The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to follow these sleeping measures for kids:
- Infants under age one: 12-16 hours
- Children between ages one and two: 11-14 hours
- Children between ages three and five: 10-13 hours
- Children between ages six and twelve: 9-12 hours
- Teenagers between ages thirteen and eighteen: 8-10 hours
3.) Strong Communication
Keep the communication between your children and their grandparents crystal clear to keep your kids feeling comfortable and their grandparents feeling supported if they need some questions answered.
Ask your children if they are worried about anything before the trip to address any issues beforehand. Establish a solid pick-up time and drop-off time to make sure that everyone is on the same page about how long the trip will be to ensure that no important appointments will be missed during this visit.
Do a little brainstorming before your children get dropped off at their grandparent’s house to clarify any health issues or allergies that need to be considered.
Does your child take any medications or need any food ingredients omitted from the foods that they are served? Does your child have trouble sleeping in beds other than their own? Make these issues known to their grandparents in advance.
When the visit is over, and your children have arrived back home, make sure that you check in with your child about how their stay was and ask their grandparents if any problems arose to be able to get them ironed out before the next trip in the future.
4.) Get Your Kids Excited
Allowing your child to spend the night with their grandparents without you there is supposed to be an enjoyable experience. Encourage the grandparents to engage with the kids by doing things to make them comfortable, like playing games, cooking together, or showing them old pictures of their families. Tell your kids some fun stories about your grandparents before the trip as well to reassure them.
5.) Plan Phone Calls
If your child is having a hard time being away from you, then keep them calm by scheduling a phone call or two to check in on them or even to say good night to them. Make sure that your child has your phone number and a way to contact you if they need to.
In Conclusion
If you are wondering how to prepare your kids to visit grandparents to lessen the chances of stress on yourself, your kids, and their grandparents that will be watching them, use these ways to make their time together enjoyable.
If your children are relatively young, make sure that they understand the family story and how you, your children, and their grandparents are all related. Share happy times that you have spent with your parents to make your own kids excited to spend time with them. Also, any special foods, clothing, and devices that your children will need to lessen the burden on their grandmother and their grandfather.
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