This is a bit of reminiscent and telling stories about how we used to have to walk 10 miles in the snow to go to school…I remember I used to have to be so nice to our nanny(s) so they wouldn’t quit on me unexpectedly because back then we couldn’t work remotely and no one cared I had kids to take care of. I think now the work place is a lot more family friendly.
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About 5-6 years ago I was talking with some of the young moms at my office. One of them asked me if I worked remotely when my kids were young. I had to remind them my oldest was born in 1991 - before the advent of laptops!
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NOT TRUE. Students in private schools absolutely are entitled to special education services. The question usually is…where and how can these best be delivered to help the child progress.
Internet or email. Boy, do we sound old.
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And we started off with dial up…oh my! Guess I am old enough to be a grandparent (except that I’m not☹️).
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My son called me this morning. Both of them were sick, the nanny was out sick. My grandson had been sick but was getting better. Both my son and daughter in law work from home. While sick they both had a day full of meetings. Luckily I was available. I am recovering from the same respiratory infection that they all have.
My son does travel for work. They have a great nanny but she is leaving in 2 weeks and they have someone new hired. It’s not the daytime tht is so hard but the evening. My grandson has some health issues and I know it’s hard when one parent is away.
My daughter also has a spouse who travels for work. She has two kids and she struggles when her husband is away. It’s getting both kids to bed, both aren’t good sleepers and getting one to preschool and the other settled with the nanny is a struggle.
@BunsenBurner update on the carrier. My DIL has a Tush baby. It didn’t work for her but I gave it a try. It’s not great but would be helpful in some situations.
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Thanks for he update! Good to know. I have not had a chance to wear it, as i mentioned, so will pass your review to kid. I wonder if a back brace would be helpful.
It is difficult when kids have different schedules.
D1 is going back to work in Feb after 4 months of maternity leave. She will need to be out of the house by 7 and earliest home by 6. Their nanny is from 8-6, so it is going to be the SIL for the morning routine. The good thing is the baby sleeps until 8 (most of the time), so he could get the older one ready for pre-school. He will drop her off at 8:15 and the nanny will take over at 8 with the baby, so it is not too bad.
SIL can also work from home 2 days a week. It is more difficult when one is traveling, which D1 will be doing quite a bit. I can sleep over when one of them is away and go to work when the nanny gets there.
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The house they are in has the laundry on the 2nd floor (where all the bedrooms are) which is very convenient for their family. The laundry is off the playroom/great room area and is quiet to the bedrooms with the door shut. They use sound machines in all their bedrooms and the kids are pretty use to going to sleep right away. The older kids’ (now age 5 and 6) - clean folded laundry is put in their color-coded small bin for them to put their clothes away (same bin where they are to put their dirty clothes, so parents do not pick up clothes - the kids learn these things early. I anticipate 3 1/2 YO will learn these simple tasks during this summer or when he begins 4K in the fall. Right now SIL is responsible to do his own laundry and sometimes does the family laundry.
Busy family life, it is nice to do the tasks that one can as a grandparent. It integrates the grandparents in meaningful ways and with familiarity with the very young kids early on - especially if nearby, or with others during some extended time.
@oldfort it is good to work out a solution with one parent absent that fits your schedule - to make it easy on you and fits the family needs.
DD1 made sure to have some fun family things scheduled while we were there, which included seeing Christmas lights and a Sesame Street Night-time Parade at Sea World (and seeing two shows, including a Christmas show which included live animals, and the Orca Whale show). A highlight for GD1 is that she has learned how to ride a two-wheeler (not fully - she has to master turns).
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Let’s hope.
Between generations, when my parents had grandchildren, I was very surprised my dad thought it was ‘too cold’ to let the grandkids walk to school in our hometown on some days. It never was ‘too cold’ for us! Even in a big rainstorm, my mom would not have thought about coming to school to pick us up (she did have a car available). I remember one classmate’s mom left work to drive her son home and she gave me a ride. Some of it with our family was also rising up economically, as dad had to work long and hard in construction, and later was owner/businessman - and mom was raised by her grandmother in Switzerland (so very old ways in her thinking).
I do think passing on good family values and being aware of circumstances around - so that the grandchildren do appreciate what they have/what they are given.
Yikes on your situation with probably needing to keep a ‘bank’ of personal leave time in the event of nanny turnover. Yes, life was very different for many professions w/o remote work availability.
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I watched a ‘TV series’ that on Amazon Prime which Sally Field played the lead part “A Woman of Independent Means” and it was very interesting on her role of wife/mother/grandmother - it was really like a few movies, not short episodes but it was very well done. Her role was from late 1800’s up to ‘present time’ which it aired in 1995. Sally Field played a part with production with the credits. I thought about how pivotal she felt her role as mother and grandmother was during the episodes - so much of her identity and what gave her joy and sorrow.
I also have been watching some YouTube videos with happiness researcher who teaches at Harvard, Arthur Brooks, and he talked about those that have found meaning in their life - coherence, purpose and significance. I find being an involved grandparent certainly has me feeling quite a lot of happiness with our family going to the next generation.
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I posted this on another thread … we had a magnificent day playing at the farm/playground with GD on Tuesday. Then last night, we found out that they discovered avian flu in the chicken flock on Thursday. We were outside the whole time, we didn’t touch the chickens (although we did pet the cow & donkey, with gloves on). We were not in close contact, so we’re fine … but the thought of how our GD might have inadvertently been harmed really hit home. (One of the farm workers has symptoms & is awaiting test results; we’re keeping her in our prayers.)
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We took our GS to his 1st indoor concert on Sunday (he saw the same band outside last summer). Its a roots rock band that our whole family loves. DD had brought headphones for him in case it was too loud but he wouldn’t keep them on. He had a blast listening and dancing to the music. Everyone thought he was adorable. It was a fun afternoon.
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Had a lot of grandkids time this past week. One son-in-law was out of town so we helped with the two from that family. It was fun but tiring. I’m happy they asked for help. Sometimes just a change of scenery to our house helps.
I wish I was closer to help my other daughter. Her 2 year old is going through a barnacle period.
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We were so glad that older GD was allowed to come over on Sunday after road conditions made a visit impossible on Saturday. Little GD wanted to come also, but we keep her twice a week while her big sister is in school. Big kids need to have a space to play with toys that aren’t safe for toddlers and to not have to constantly guard against the little one grabbing stuff. H and I are building quite a collection of Lego sets here since older GD rarely gets to play with any big kid toys at home and she loves building Legos.
I misunderstood a description of a set I recently ordered and the Lego figures are bigger than traditional minifigs. That meant the Elsa from another Frozen set is too small to use with the new set, which only has Anna and Kristoff. H immediately asked me to order another set with the larger (mini dolls vs minifigs) Elsa.
I just learned there are “microfigs”, too, so there’s a lot of Lego research in my future. I think the “Friends” series of Lego sets may be yet another size, although it’s possible they’re the mini dolls. Lego wasn’t this complicated when our kids were little.
We already have a large bin full of sets yet to be given to the GDs. Lego seems to discontinue sets more frequently than I recall, and the reseller price for old sets is often double or triple the original price. At least that’s my excuse. 
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@Silpat - I love that your GD likes building with Legos. I’m seeing an architecture or engineering future for her. In addition to her being able to play with the smaller stuff, I think the older kids need time away from younger siblings.
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I must have missed this phase when I was raising my kids. Explanation??
I think it means clingy.
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I posted upthread that D1 and her H have not taken care of both kids by themselves (individually) yet. Well, last Saturday they decided to go to dinner and left me with 2 kids.
The good and bad was both kids went to bed around the same time, so it could be chaotic. I ended up reading to both of them (4 yr old and 3.5 month) together, told GD1 that she had to brush her teeth and potty by herself. I put GD2 in her crib while I tugged GD1 in. After GD1 was in bed I then fed GD2 and put her down for the night. That was all in the span of 1 hour (7-8pm). After they both went down I had the evening to myself. The parents came back around 9:30. I told them that after all that effort they could have stayed out longer. They said they haven’t been out in so long that they were tired.
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