Introduction ~ A Need for Inspiration

 

 

 

I provide childcare for my grand daughter, Audra (born June 2011), since both her parents must work. As she began to walk and talk, I realized that the days she spends here needed to be something more than just passing the time until one of her parents arrives to pick her up. 

 

I needed some direction so I contacted an old friend who provides home care for three grandchildren. The eldest just entered Kindergarten doing second grade math, reading and writing.  He can use American Sign Language (as do his siblings) and he also has a Spanish vocabulary of about 300 words and phrases.

 

All of this is without Head Start or any type of pre-school or professional tutoring.  This is an average, blue collar family with no training in early childhood education; yet the video clips they sent me of these kids in action really blew me away!

 

I had became aware of how often I was saying "no" to Audra and it was getting frustrating for us both. My friend told me about the Montessori approach to teaching children and how much that had helped with her grand kids.   The concept of an environment prepared for a child really made sense to me and I realized that my home was too adult-oriented for Audra.

 

I made a few small changes in my home based on Montessori principles and saw an instant change in Audra.  Just thinning out and better organizing her toys and adding a few pieces of toddler furniture has made a huge difference in her happiness and behavior here. 

 

On the topic of toddlers,  there are too few blogs or websites written by caregiving grandparents.  Most of them are by parents or educators.  I started my own granny blog in hopes of getting advice and inspiration from the blogging community and perhaps offering some the same in return.
 

It's also a good way to chronicle Audra's progress and to give her busy parents a window into her days.  Audra's parents work long hours and do not have the time to work with her the way that we do. I hope that the posts, video clips and photographs that I place here will reassure them that Audra is enjoying her days and learning in leaps and bounds.

This blog is also a great place to share photos, family gatherings and events with the whole clan.  We have other grand children whom we don't see as often, as they live out-of-state, so we tend to go a bit nuts with the cameras when the opportunity presents itself.

We hope that our other daughter-in-laws will send us photographs and news to post here so that all of the kids can be included.  We do not love Audra more than the other kids.  She lives nearby and we care for her at least four times a week, so our actions have a greater influence on her life and development.  We don't impact the other kids' lives quite so much because of the distance, but that doesn't mean we love them less.

So please share art, photographs, report cards or anything else you wish and I will include these in my blog posts.