General Chat

Allan - I don't say hello to everyone by name 'cos I just know I would forget someone:-))

Linda - my parents weren't very hands on grandparents. They were always busy doing things together that they didn't have a lot of time to visit when the children were little. My mum didn't drive so that made it hard for her to visit without dad. Mum has said on a number of occasions that she thinks I spend too much time with the grandkids but we want to be an important part of my grandchildren's lives.

Sue xx

No Linda, OH makes it using silver beet, of which we have plenty now that the new crop has matured!

lol Sue

Allan

Then why don't you call it Silver Beet Pie? Strange people Aussies

Hello Linda, Sue, Allan, CC, and anyone I missed.

I have a very special relationship with my grand daughter. She has always been a rather serious little girl, but I only have to look at her in a certain way and she collapses with laughter. Now she is 16 yrs old, and just thinks I'm deranged. We still have fun teasing her mother.

Tec

Well, I am off to bed now, apologies in advance to Berona who always appears just after I go. We aren't the same person honestly. Goodnight Tec and have a good day Sue and Allan and all the other upside down people

'Cause in many recipes, silver beet is a substitue for english spinach: very similar properties.

Allan

Good night Linda

Allan

I couldn't resist saying that your grand daughter may well be right Tec......

Goodnight Linda, sleep well, and yes I am deranged, but find it helps.
Tec.

You're lucky to have that relationship with your grand-daughter Tec. A friend once told me that she feels the same about all her grandchildren and doesn't feel a bond with any one child. My husband has a special bond with my daughter's eldest and I'm very close to our little boy twin. Even our grandson in Hobart has a special relationship with us now that he is older and can chat on the phone. For a little while he didn't know who we were when they moved down to Tassie and it would hurt us although we understood. Now he gets excited when he knows we're coming to visit and he understands that we don't live nearby so can't visit all the time.

Sue xx

Hello CC - you snuck in while I was slowly typing my reply. We do spoil the grandchildren - but not with gifts. As I do scrapbooking and the children have their own books which they now call their "special" books. They know they are made with love and they enjoy sitting with me and looking at the photos of when they were babies and as they have grown through the years. They are now asking questions about why daddy is in a couple of photos and was he living in their house. We knew it would come but I can't take out the photos of them and their father as he is part of their lives.

Sue xx

I'm sure these days it's a question commonly asked and answers have been found.

Sue xx

Indeed CC - not asked yet but it will come. Their father made it clear to my daughter that he couldn't cope with the twins - in his words they were his downfall. Yet he was the one who wanted a large family - that was before reality set in.

Sue xx

Goodnight Linda. Sleep well. At least, I got to say goodnight! I have read all of your posts. That's why I'm this late.
Good morning and good evening to everyone else.

Good night Tec

Good morning Berona

CC not wine tasting :0((

I went to the kitchen to get my daily medication and got diverted on to other things, like washing a few dirty dishes!

Allan

My grand parents were so different in their attitudes. My paternal grand parents were easy going. I was allowed to do what liked in their house from an early age. They were not well off, but spoilt me whenever they could. It was a time of rationing and austerity, but sweets and treats were always found for me. If I wanted to go out and play and get filthy dirty as only little boys can, then I could. Their house was always full of laughter and fun and games. My paternal grand father was very influential as he was around when my father was away in the army.


My maternal grandmother was totally different. She was very strict indeed. If I stayed with her, which I often did, I was never allowed out to play, or allowed to talk to other boys in the neighbourhood. I had to stay quiet, and read a book. Children were to be seen but not heard. There were never any treats in her house, and it was as quiet as the grave there. She wasn't unkind in any way - just different.
On Sunday I was made to attend church TWICE.

Despite the differences, I loved them all equally, and just accepted their different ways as the way they were.

Tec.

Hello, Berona - hope you are well.

Tec - I don't really remember my grandparents. Apparently I was the apple of my paternal grandfather's eye and my maternal grandparents loved me dearly. It must've broken their hearts when my parents brought me here to Australia. I never saw them again - my grandmother died six months before I was due to visit. She was so looking forward to seeing me but she was very ill.

Sue xx


Sue xx

I haven't gone yet Berona, although CC and Allan have said goodnight to me - but I am going soon.

How are you?

Tec.

OOps!!

my apologies Tec, it was so long between my posts that I thought you had gone for the night!

Allan

Sue - children accept a lot more than we expect them to. Just wait for the questions and answer them with the facts but don't go into detail unless asked. They ask for as much as they can cope with. Too much goes over their heads. It could take time, but they will ask the questions when they are ready for the answers. It's amazing how children accept facts so easily and I'm sure you will have no problems with that follow-up question "why?".