It's official: I'm a cool grandparent
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 As a teen, I pored over personality quizzes that might better tell me who I was and what I wanted—those ever-so-important things that I simply could not figure out for myself. If I circled the right number of As or Bs or ALL OF THE ABOVEs, the super-scientific methodology would make me feel good about myself while directing me to the places in need of improvement. Or so I hoped.
As a young wife and mother, I continued to want—no, need—validation through personality and relationship quizzes offered in magazines ranging from Redbook to Parents. In between diapering, bathing, feeding and surviving, I took quizzes any time I came across them. I even bought books—one a hardcover, if you can believe it!—of quizzes to help me figure out me, myself, and I.
COOL GRANDMAS LET GRANDSONS LICK THE BOWLApparently I've not outgrown the need for quiz-based validation, not even as a grandma. For when I saw that friend and fellow grandma Susan posted on her Grandparents.About.com website a What's Your Grandparenting Style quiz, I couldn't click my way there quickly enough.
I'm now older and a wee bit wiser than the quiz-taking adolescent or young mother I once was. So I kept my enthusiasm in check, resolved to remain blasé about what I might find and what the quiz may reveal. I skeptically assumed the quiz would be three or four questions followed by a designation along the lines of "You are the best kind of grandma ever, the kind who loves your grandbaby sweetie bugs to death and they love you totally and completely in return." Such a generic result would be not only a cop-out but a disappointment.
I was happy to see—and should have known to begin with—that Susan was better than that. She offered up a fairly in-depth questionaire. Sure, it wasn't a Myers-Brigg type psychological test by any stretch of the imagination. Questions, though, were many and ran the gamut from one's gifting style to what kind of grandma attire she might wear on to how disciplinary action may be taken on a trash-can-toppling grandson.
COOL GRANDMAS MAKE UP TRAMPOLINE GAMESI thoughtfully considered each question, then went with my gut in answering, just as any long-time personality quiz-taker has learned provides the most accurate results. (No more adolescent manipulation of the outcome by guessing which answers provide desired results rather than the reality.) Once I made it through the fourteen questions, each with six possible answers, I braced myself for the outcome, hoping for confirmation that I'm doing the right thing as a grandma while also providing a few unexpected revelations on where I rock and where I need to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
Now, I don't want to incite the crowd, create jealousy where none should be, so I'm a tad reluctant to share my results. In my quest to be a transparent blogger, though, I must honestly and completely reveal the outcome. On one hand, it's what I expected. On the other hand...well... Oh, hell, I cannot lie. It's what I expected. Sort of. After decades of self-test taking, how could I not know how this one might turn out.
Still, it made me smile. For this, my friends, is the official word on my grandparenting style:
| What's Your Grandparenting Style? | |
You're a Cool Grandparent!
You are not the stereotypical grandparent. For one thing, you're totally at ease with technology. You're likely to be young in years, but you are definitely young at heart. You love movies, music, video games and other diversions that you can share with your grandchildren once they get old enough. You're not really into baking, knitting or gardening, and you're not a great fan of family history. You're more interested in living in the here and now, and your grandchildren will appreciate that.
Did they hit it on the head or what?
Sure, they missed on the baking, for I do indeed love to bake. And gardening, well, I'm trying and will get it one of these years, for sure. But I'll just figure gardening—and the need to become a more avid fan of my freaky family history—as the places needing improvement I hoped would be pointed out to me.
Despite those minor misses, confirmation and validation came in spades. Or at least came in the first three sentences of my results. For proof, check out my About page here on my blog. A quick scan of it and you'll see that the Granparent.About.com quiz is no slouch. It turned out to be fairly accurate. At least in my case.
What about in yours? Take the quiz for yourself and see. I hope you'll come back here afterward and report your grandparenting style. I promise not to be jealous.
For I'm cool like that. And I have the quiz results to prove it.
Today's question:
When did you last take a quiz in a magazine or online?
Reader Comments (21)
LOL. First 'quiz' I've taken in years, but I think I need a do-over! Swear I'm as far from Pollyanna as they come. Or maybe I am and I just don't know it?
You're a Pollyanna Grandparent!
You are the traditional loving grandparent. You enjoy babysitting, and you'll even sit with grandchildren who have a stomach virus. You like giving gifts to your grandchildren, and you can pick out the perfect gift for any occasion. You are always front and center at your grandchildren's special events. You are the incarnation of unconditional love.
I dunno, NonnieKelly. That sounds an awful lot like you to me! Pretty much exactly like you, at least how I see you. No shame in being a Pollyanna Grandma, for sure. (Of course, you could always retake the quiz and try to manipulate the answers to end up as cool as me.) :-P
I love taking quizzes, even more so when the results are laughable. I don't think I have taken any this month, but I took a couple style quizzes in October...or maybe it was September.
I haven't taken a quiz in a long time, but I'm going to take this one and will report back to you. I've been a grandma for almost ten years and have loved every minute of it.
And for the record, I used to cheat on those teen quizzes, too. Looking back, it was like cheating on yourself, wasn't it?
Gosh, I haven't taken one of these quizzes in about 50 years. Fun! (Hope I'll be as cool as you.)
You didn't need to take a quiz to know that you're cool, did you? I'm glad it validated what was true, in any case!
Thank you for the suggestion, Lisa.
Yes, I'm going back to 'game' the system! I'm not traditional, I said I would yell at the child who dumped the garbage (assuming I'd already asked child 10x not to run in the house), and I can't clean up vomit...so that stomach virus thing is simply out of the question.
It's not like I should be working vs. taking quizzes today:)
Woohoo! You are a cool grandma! (love the pictures!)
I don't remember the last time I took a quiz. The ones in magazines used to be so fun.
I read something about being a good mom--"Good moms let you like the beaters. Great moms turn off the mixer first." Something to aim for!
The last time I took a magazine quiz was when I was in my 30's and I was reading Cosmopolitan. I know my husband is glad I don't make him take those quizzes with me anymore!
That quiz was difficult! I'm a Pollyanna but we knew that. Jenna has accused me of being a Pollyanna since she was little and read the book -- which I happen to be re-reading on my Kindle right now and highly recommend! She also refers to me as a born again cheerleader.
As for the other most recent quiz I've taken -- I just took one online about 2 weeks ago that my friend sent me about Enneagram. Very interesting -- let me know if you need the link!
Oh I remember all the quizzes. How sexy are you? Do you know how to please your man? If you were a tree what kind would you be? Such fun!
I don't take quizzes often, always felt like something a teacher sprung on us just to make us realize how stupid and forgetful we were; I've been able to know that for many years now without a quiz to remind me. I'm glad yours just confirmed what you already knew about yourself.
Cute pictures.
Don't remember the last quiz I did. You are indeed a wonderful grandmother & the quizzed proved that Lisa. I'm off now to do the quiz.
Cool Grandma, way to go!
I have not taken a quiz in years!
I do think that the description fits you to a T, Lisa! Although most of us are a little bit of a mixture. Thanks to everyone who took the quiz. I'd love to hear what you think!
you are a cool grandma! Here are my results--
You are the traditional loving grandparent. You enjoy babysitting, and you'll even sit with grandchildren who have a stomach virus. You like giving gifts to your grandchildren, and you can pick out the perfect gift for any occasion. You are always front and center at your grandchildren's special events. You are the incarnation of unconditional love.
I sound pretty good :D
Like several others, I came out a Pollyanna Grandparent. Our guys are really little - so I should take it again, when they're older and see how it comes out. I do know that I love spending time with the toddler and making up pretend games and looking for fall leaves and doing art projects at the kitchen table and cooking in the kitchen. No question - when he calls and says, "Hi Grandma, You want to Skype with me?" or, at a recent wedding, when he said (all evening), "Come on, Grandma. Let's go dance!" I was there! (With the baby, it's just fun to hug and smile and imitate his growing repertoire of sounds.)
"You are the traditional loving grandparent. You enjoy babysitting, and you'll even sit with grandchildren who have a stomach virus. You like giving gifts to your grandchildren, and you can pick out the perfect gift for any occasion. You are always front and center at your grandchildren's special events. You are the incarnation of unconditional love."
Haven't done a quiz in years! Thanks for the morning fun :)
It said I am a take-charge grandparent, and it assumed that's bad. But we have the kids here every day for daycare, and their parents agreed we should spend time giving them new experiences and explaining lots of stuff. We never do that at the expense of their parents. Well, hardly ever. :-)
As a new grand parent I think this would be fun to take.
I'll have to let you know if I am cool too!
Pollyanna here! I was never one of the "cool" kids.
"You are the traditional loving grandparent. You enjoy babysitting, and you'll even sit with grandchildren who have a stomach virus. You like giving gifts to your grandchildren, and you can pick out the perfect gift for any occasion. You are always front and center at your grandchildren's special events. You are the incarnation of unconditional love."