My daughter and granddaughter visited last weekend and we visited my dad who is in a nursing home.
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My granddaughter is almost two. Her parents thinks she's 'challenging' - she's not. She's a toddler who can sometimes have 'big emotions' (we called them tantrums).
And while she had her moments that day, maybe because she had been awake since 5am, when we visited my dad she was adorable. Not quiet ready to jump in his lap but happy to run around and burble along. Today's photo is her saying goodbye to her great grandfather that day, a pretty special moment to record.
My dad is 91 and has trouble with his memory. But he was enchanted by his great granddaughter. I'm not kidding myself that my granddaughter is some special human being, but a light turned on my dad's eyes as he watched her run around his room, playing with our COVID test strips and devouring the chocolate he found for her in a drawer. Thinking back, maybe it was the chocolate that was her mood-changer?
As we moved through the nursing home, the residents gravitated to her, they watched her every move, stared into her face and smiled. I'm a relatively new grandparent and quite smitten with both my grandchildren, of course, but witnessing the effect she had on the older generation was a bit magical.
Later the new mums in our family were talking about some of the ideals they set themselves early on, chief among them being they would never lie, always tell their child the truth and reason with them. Then babies become head-strong toddlers and young children - and then the bribes and the lies come out. "If you don't get out of there... if you don't put that down... if you don't stop that... etc."
Some mums have gotten very inventive in getting their children to fall in line. When a young Paw Patrol fan refused to do as they were told, her mum told her 'Skye just rang and if you don't get out of the bath now she's not going on Paw Patrol tomorrow.' I wish I invented that one.
Anyway, sitting on the sidelines as a grandparent is an absolute joy. No judgement. Been there, done that. And most of the time, the kids are all right.
Enjoy the weekend.
Toni Bell
ACM editor, Manning River Times