Celebrating Grandparents
“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of
sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.” ~Alex Haley
Becoming a parent is one of life’s greatest joys, we get to spend everyday with the amazing little people that we brought into the world; we love them and care for them and guide them through the journey of life. Not only that but, if we are lucky, we get to share this joyful experience with the very people who did the same for us- our parents and even our own grandparents.
Although not widely advertised, National Grandparents Day was introduced to the UK in 1990 by the charity Age Concern (now Age UK) and is celebrated on the first Sunday in October each year. Whether you buy in to the commercial aspect of giving gifts and greetings cards is a matter of choice, but we want to offer our BornFree Mum & Dad Community the opportunity to pay homage and tell us about the special Grandparents in your life.
We would like you to leave a comment under this post with your grandparent related story: whether you talk about your own parents and the special role they play in your child’s life or whether you tell us about your own grandparents and what they mean to you, it’s up to you!
You have until midnight Tuesday 11th October to leave your comment. We’ll pick our favourite story and announce the winner on Wednesday 12th October. The winner will receive BornFree goodies to the value of £25 which can be chosen from our online store (subject to availability).
We can’t wait to hear your stories. Good luck!
UPDATE 12/10/11 Thank you to everyone who submitted their comment, they are all so wonderful and very moving. It was a tough decision, but we are very pleased to announce that our winner is Kate Cunningham. Congratulations! We’ll be emailing you soon with details of how to redeem your prize.
My grandma turned 80 this year and we celebrated in style! She is not your typical Grandma, for her 80th she wanted a helicopter ride as her present, of all things! She has loved becoming a Great Grandma and although we live 80 miles away from her she travels down once a month to come and see us all. She really is quite incredible. She sends Noah a post card from every place she visits and one weekend she came this way to see my Mum and ended up babysitting the three kiddies on her own for a whole evening. I did feel guilty when people asked who has the children and I’d say my 80yr old Grandma. She is one in a million and I love her to bits!
I so miss my partners dad, he was a great grandad. My son spent nearly two years with him and when he went missed him dearly! He has missed a strong young boy growing up and now he has a grandaughter too which i know he would of loved to bits. He is missed so much and he would of been a fab impact in there lives! I hope hes watching us and they do him proud.
I lost my Granddad when I was 18months old and miss him to this day, whenever I used to see him he always played with me even though he was unwell. I lost my Nan the week my daughter came home from hospital, she never got to meet her in person but she was shown a photo of my daughter when she was in her incubator (my daughter was born seven weeks early) I often think that my Nan waited until we were home knowing that we were both ok before passing on. My father in Law was a wonderful Granddad and my eldest daughter now 10years misses him dearly he used to love seeing and playing with her. It’s a shame that he never got to meet my youngest daugter who is ten months as he would have loved her as much as he loved my eldest daughter. Nanny T, Nanny and Granddad M love both our girls very much and always send them postcards when they go away on holiday and send them little presents up because we live quite a distance away. Putting it simply our Girls have the best Grandparents they could ask for
My 2yr old son absolutely loves his grandma. She is the light of his life. We live 3 doors away from my parents and when we go to their house my son makes my mum play on the floor with him and play outside, hes loves her to pieces.
They are currently away on holiday and i hate seeing my sons face drop when i tell him that he cant see her just yet. We go round to their house to feed and let their dog out and as soon as we get there thomas is shouting grandma and goes upstairs looking for her and then cries when he realises she isnt their.
My mum is by far the best grandma to my son.
My gran was a great lady she had 9 of us grandchildren to spread her love with , she also had great granchildren to which i have lost count how many she has. My gran was the typical gran, beautiful traditional cooking ,she still kept her goodies in the pantry, she taught me how to knit. 8 years ago on my 20th birthday gran became ill and our family had to turn her life support off . 8 years ago i lost my grannie and she would have love to have seen the beautiful great grandchildren i have today.
I’m about to be a grandparent and I’m feeling a bit nervous about it. I’ve never had grandparents of my own as they had all gone before I came along so I never knew what it was to have a grandparent, other than listening to my friends. When I married, I enjoyed the company of my husband’s granny and my own children were fortunate to have 3 active grandparents in their lives. I guess I’m just going to carve out my own path and will do my very best to be a good grandparent. One thing for sure is I am so excited and getting even more excited as each day goes by! I have a million and one ideas of little activities we can do together and last week I nearly missed my stop on the train because I was daydreaming about this child who is already the love of my life before she has made her appearance!
My mum and dad are grandaprents to 4 girls and 1 boy. They spend their days running around after their granchildren and doing what all good grandparents do – spoiling their grandchildren with lots of love, affection and a little treat from time to time. They look after 2 of their grandchildren during the week and visit the others as often as possible. They call daily and are always available to listen to the little events in their grandchildrens lives that shape who they are such as a good result in a spelling test or passing grade 1 in ballet. They seem to have so much patience and endless love to shower upon them. They set the perfect example for me to follow and I hope that one day when I am older and a grandparent myself I am able to do the same with my grandchildren.
My Grandad had a fall on Tuesday evening which caused a bleed on the brain . We all thought we were going to lose him .he didn’t recognise anyone .he is 85 has heart problems and cancer as we all sat around his bed we talked about how amazing he was and what a huge impact he has made on our life in the middle of the night he had his operation a massive op for a young man never mind an 85 year old . When I saw,him the next day he was sat up in bed with a purple mohican and was laughing at himself on photos that I took to show him what he looked like . My Grandad is getting better every day .I am a grandparent and hope I can become as amazing as my Grandad is x x
@Kerry, your grandma sounds amazing-so full of life. how lovely that your children get to see her regularly xx
@Tina, I’m so sorry for your loss, your father-in-law sounds lovely xx
@Alison, it’s so nice to hear that your children have a special relationship with their grandparents like you did with yours xx
@Michaela how wonderful that you all live so close and your son and your mum get to spend so much time together xx
@Emma, what a fantastic gran you had and what brilliant memories you have to pass on to your children xx
@Kate, congratulations on the forthcoming birth. It sounds like you’re going to be a wonderful grandmother! xx
@Lucy, you must be so proud of your parents, what dedication and what lucky grandchildren they have xx
@Sarah, I’m so sorry to hear your grandad is unwell, he sound like a fabulous character. Wishing him a speedy recovery xx
My grandma is a huge inspiration,
to the whole entire nation,
shes now eightysix,
and still full of tricks,
she is very hard of hearing,
but none of her sense of humour is disappearing.
she makes the perfect trecle toffee
and moans when you forget to put sugar in her coffee.
Last year she went to cyprus on a plane,
sat on the beach and sipped champagne.
This year she got breast cancer,
she said ‘head high, have fun is the answer’.
she has a heart of gold,
and I hope i’m like her when i’m old.
@Vicky, What a brilliant tribute! Thanks for posting xx
Well where to start. My grandma has 7 children of her own and now with the growing family she is a great great grandma at the age of 86. She now has 30 something grandchildren all together. She has been a widow for many years however it is always gaurenteed that she will make you laugh and go that extra mile to make sure your happy in life. Even after two knee operations and recently battling breast cancer she keeps going to help us out whenever needed. Whether its buying us presents or giving us hugs, grandma always makes you feel loved. I have many memories of my grandma when i was younger such as family holidays. One particular memory that has stuck with me and my siblings is when i was younger grandma would often look after us and she would always let us have supper before bed (something my parents never allowed).I am also fortunate enough to continue gathering memories today. She is truely amazing and supports all her grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren in everyway.
As my parents both passed away when I was young my children are not lucky enough to have met their Grandparents but I make sure that they know who they were to me, to them and as people.
There is a photo of them both on the fridge so they are seen daily and are part of everyday life as much as they can be. My Mum and Dad would have been fantastic Grandparents to my 4 children and it is sad they they didn’t get to meet 4 lovely children but their memory is with us daily..
@Alison, your grandma sounds perfect, what a lucky family xx
@Lou Thank you for sharing, it sounds like your parents’ memory will live on through you to your children and it’s lovely that you keep them as part of your daily routine xx
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