Have you traveled with your grandchildren? More and more grandparents are discovering that vacations with their grandchildren create lasting bonds filled with wonderful memories. My grandma and I rode the train from San Francisco to New York when I graduated from high school and I have so many fond memories of our adventures together.
Two of my GaGa Sisterhood members went on very different vacations with their grandchildren this summer — one grandma took her 13-year old granddaughter to Paris for a week, and the other grandma took her 12-year old granddaughter and 9-year old grandson to a dude ranch in Arizona for a week. Both of them said their adventures were memorable.
Paris Adventures
Barbara chose Paris because she has traveled there before and loves the culture. She wanted to share that love with her granddaughter, Emma, and felt that she would have a chance to use her basic French vocabulary. Emma is a budding fashionista and Barbara thought she’d find the styles in Paris fascinating.
The biggest gifts of the trip were getting to know Emma better and having fun with her. They made up their own jokes based on odd names they spotted on statues: “Birdy Murgher and her sister Bercy Murgher are dirty birds” made them chortle every time they said it. Since no one knew them, they invented new names for themselves when they met new people. Barbara was Babette and Emma was LouLou. She kept a journal and wrote down the funny things they said, heard, or saw. What a treasure that is!
Barbara offers advice to other grandparents who are planning to travel with their grandchildren.
- Don’t try to cram too much into each day so you have plenty of downtime and the flexibility to follow your noses. They had only one objective (for example, go to the Eiffel Tower) for each day. Exploring on the fly is half the fun!
- Look for ways to reduce YOUR stress, so that you can really be present for your grandchild. For example, they took taxis instead of the metro. Barbara hired a driver to get them to and from the airport. She bought tickets and tours before the trip to avoid long lines.
- Find out what your grandchild is most interested in and feature that in your trip. For example, because Emma loves fashion, she booked a fashion tour with a personal shopper for them.
- Don’t overdo museums. She took Emma to only one museum (Musee d’Orsay because she loves impressionism.)
Barbara learned an important lesson while traveling. “For us, the trip was more about deepening our relationship and having fun than my teaching Emma about Paris and painters. I learned this during the planning stage. For example, as I planned the trip, I zealously created a ‘curriculum’ for Emma on impressionism, 9 artists, and 9 paintings, with the intention of preparing her for our trip to the d’Orsay. However, a wise friend advised me not to give Emma my fabulous curriculum, but instead, just share tidbits from it at just the right moments. So, as we looked at paintings in the museum, I shared juicy morsels on artists and their art instead of weighing her down with information in advance. That was much more fun and interesting for her than studying a long document.”
Babette heartily recommends that you jump at any opportunity to travel with a grandchild and be open to the wonderful things you will learn!
Dude Ranch Adventure
Francis and her husband John joined a Road Scholar trip for grandparents and grandkids — “Ultimate Old West: The White Stallion Ranch Experience.” Their group had 8 grandparents and 6 grandkids.
- Being with the kids from pj’s to pj’s — waking them up in the morning and kissing them goodnight.
- Riding horses together on beautiful trails and soaking in the scenery.
- All four of us taking a riding lesson. Levi and Ella passed the test to go on the ‘”fast ride,” while she and John opted for the slow ride. The kids felt proud!
- Painting our horses and having a parade.
- Going on a great hayride around the ranch, sipping prickly pear cactus lemonade.
- Seeing the stars at night
- Seeing a rainbow across the sky over our rooms.
- Having great accommodations – family suite – 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. We all had privacy.
- Doing an art project together: making our spirit animal plaques. We will put ours on our family room walls.
Francis recommends this trip for other grandparents but says the next trip would be with just one grandchild at a time. Her grandson and granddaughter didn’t always want to do the same activities. They were the only grandparents with two grandchildren and she felt you can bond more with just one at a time. She also advises that the sleeping arrangements provide space and quiet for everyone.
