Are you dealing with long distance grandparenting? Do you want to be more involved with your grandkids, even though they live far away? Telephone calls are one great way to help you do just that.
While so many other prices are going up, up, up, long distance charges have dropped dramatically.
Many home telephone plans offer unlimited long distance for a low fee.
Cell phones often come with free long distance or have it wrapped into the base price.
This means you can develop a great relationship with your long distance grandkids by chatting with them periodically.
Sometimes it can seem hard so here are some tips to help you: 1.
Younger grandkids may have a hard time "talking" on the phone for very long.
When they start getting "wiggly," I ask if they would like me to sing them a song and they always say yes happily.
And grandkids never care how we sound.
They just love that we love them.
Sometimes we even sing it together.
Be aware, though, that if you are on a cell phone, only one person can be heard at a time so if you are both singing together, you won't hear each other while you are singing.
2.
My senior mom has a very hard time understanding the littlest ones on a phone and for awhile she didn't feel comfortable talking to them.
Since she couldn't understand them she didn't feel like she was talking to them in a way they would enjoy.
I pointed out that, since they were so young, it really was easy to entertain them on the phone.
Even if you don't understand them, just say, "Wow," "How interesting," "That's fascinating," etc.
You are showing you are interested, even if you can't understand them.
And they are learning some useful big words.
Definitely a win-win situation.
3.
As the grandkids get a bit older, we will sometimes sing rounds together, or "response songs.
" For instance, I'll sing, "Rejoice in the Lord, always, and again I say, 'rejoice!'" Then they have fun shouting, "REJOICE.
" This way, we are working together and that's a fun way to build a long distance relationship.
4.
Older grandkids often enjoy reading a story to me.
It can be a book they like to which then gives them a chance to show me their reading skills or a story they have written.
5.
The weather is always a good subject for kids, just as for adults.
We talk about how strange it is that they have snow and I have sun.
Or how fun it is that we both have snow.
As casual as this seems, it is also educational.
They're learning about weather and geography, while you are working on long distance grandparenting.
6.
You might spend some time during each call teaching them their own phone number, your phone number, or something else special.
As a granny nanny to my local grandkids, I spend time each week helping them learn their Bible memory verses for Awanas, and I love to share special ones with my long distance grandkids, as well.
I will share special inspiring Bible verses with them and they'll share their own Bible memory verses of the week with me.
7.
If their voices disappear all of a sudden, but the line isn't dead, they probably accidentally hit the mute button.
I usually say, "Honey, I can't hear you.
Ask your mommy or daddy to fix it," a few times, and lo and behold, a minute or so later they're back on.
8.
For a birthday, holiday, or just-for-fun gift, you could send them a digital picture frame with several pictures of yourself talking on the telephone.
They can then add their own pictures to it.
Then they can enjoy seeing you "with them" as they chatter away to their very special long distance grandparent! Amazon has great prices on those now and their Prime Membership is one of my favorite ways to save money with long distance grandparenting!