Crafts with kids, 1986 and 2014

Throwback Thursday

October 1986 —
Craft time with my two-year-old daughter, Megan:

February 2014 —
Craft time with Megan's two- and five-year-old sons, Mac and Bubby:

Today's question:

What do you do with your grandchildren that you fondly recall doing with their parent(s)?

Oh, how my grandsons swear

I didn't let my daughters swear when they were young. I didn't allow them to swear in my presence when they were older, either. For the most part. When they were teens, I did allow them one curse word — that word being crap — that they could use when they rilly, rilly, rilly needed to let loose with exclamations of an unsavory sort.

My daughter Megan is more strict than I am. Sometimes surprisingly so. She has a far more restrictive expected code of behavior than I ever did with my girls. That's mostly, I think, because she's a teacher and sees the horrid lack of respect many school kids have for others (and themselves) nowadays.

Because Megan is so strict — and I say that with genuine admiration, dear Megan — I'm pretty sure Bubby and Mac will never, ever be allowed to say crap.

That said, though, there is one exclamation the boys are allowed to say, and it cracks me up each time it comes out of their mouths. During my visit with my grandsons a few weeks ago, I caught Mac on camera uttering the mighty words of frustration when I was trying to get him to say fire engine or fire truck (and, no, it's not that mangled curse word):

Oh, nuts! Just makes me chuckle every time.

Bubby says it, too, and it's always so unexpected coming out of the mouths of those little boys that I can't help but laugh.

What's especially funny is that, as you can see from Mac's face when I chuckle in the video above, my grandsons have no idea why Gramma finds that so funny.

Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure either.

Oh, nuts!

Yeah... it's just funny to me.

Oh, nuts!

I admit it: It doesn't take much to amuse this grandma.

Today's question:

What chuckle-worthy pseudo curse words come out of the mouths your little ones?

Spooky science experiments plus GRAND Social link party No. 76

With only a few days left until Halloween, it's time to squeeze in a bit more holiday fun with the kids before the creepy occasion has come and gone.

I received some Halloween treats from Kiddie Academy and with their permission, I'm sharing one with you today. It's a booklet of Spooky Science experiments using items you likely have around the house. Click on the following graphic to access the .pdf file (you'll need the free Adobe reader), then print it — or save to your computer — and try one or more  of the Halloween-themed experiments with the kids at your place.

Because my grandsons are far away, I've not tried these experiments with them, so please do share your success stories with me once you sample the spooky science fun with your kiddos. Enjoy!

Time now for GRAND Social No. 76. Thank you for participating!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a rel="nofollow" href="/" target="blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.


• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

Boys are just as crazy as girls

What I learned this week:

Having had three daughters, the childrearing years my husband and I faced were filled with lots of drama, plenty of boy-crazy moments.

As they've had only sons (so far), I thought Megan and Preston might escape the thrills, chills, and tear spills associated with the crazy crushes on the opposite sex. Mostly because I didn't think boys were as crazy about girls as girls are about boys. I thought concerns about cooties — as well as indifference to cuties — was par for the course for males under the age of, oh, maybe 14 or so.

Then I saw something yesterday that changed my mind.

Mac and I walked to pick up Bubby after school yesterday. Bubby and his classmates ran around while parents mingled or talked to the teacher — Megan, my daughter and Bubby's mom, whom I wanted to touch base with before heading back home with her sons. Mac joined the big kids, and as I waited, I caught the following, a foretelling of what Megan and Preston have in store:

So I admit I was wrong: Boys clearly get girl crazy — and far earlier than I ever would have imagined.

Thank you for reading! Enjoy your weekend!

Today's question:

How old were you when you had your first crush and who was it on?