Travel Tips

I have three grandchildren all of whom I adore but I still think Im too young to be a granny, the first was born two weeks before my 40th birthday and the others followed 4 and 6 years later.

When I remember my gran all I can see is a tiny old lady with white hair who lay in bed all day, she died when I was 7, so I dont really have a gran to compare myself with

As Im not the glamourous type Im striving to be the fun granny who lets you do all the messy thigs your mother wont, and in this I have discovered the joy of grandparenthood.The rules are as follows

1 Let them eat whatever they want .......It wont be your car they are sick in on the way home

2 Mud is good, embrace it, squidge it through your fingers, rub it in your hair ..........your Mummy is the one who gets your laundry, not Granny

3 If they want to nap in the late afternoon thats OK, Granny isnt the one who will be up with them `till 1am

4 You can always say no..... much as I love mine if I want to go off I cant be forced to babysit

5 You have great revenge opportunities on your kids, remember the days when all you heard was `Well Granny lets us stay up late/get dirty/tightrope walk/ eat sweets for dinner/watch TV .......

6 [ courtesy of Rogan]
you can let them eat sweets, ice cream whatever, you dont pay the dentists bill

7 [ also courtesy of Rogan]
you get to say `when mummy/daddy was little they didn`t always do as they were told`

I suppose I should give credit for these beautiful children to their mother, my daughter, although she was only passing on the excellent genes she inherited from her father and I

You cant see me Granny

yes I can Jay, you are there

No Granny, you cant SEE me, because I shut my eyes

but my eyes are open Jay, I can see you but you cant see me

[ sigh] Granny, if my eyes are shut you cant see in my head..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I gave up, how do you answer that one ?

the sweater says `not my fault`
Oh Yeah ?

Hey Granny, Great-grandads in heaven sitting on a star

yes he is Sophia

Was great-grandad a good boy ?

yes Sophia, great-grandad was a very good boy

Well, thats good innit ? cos then he wont have to go up the ladder

what ladder is that Sophiedoodle ?

the ladder up to heaven where God and Superman is, because if you is good you can go up in the lift.........

Life, and death, are so simple when you are nearly three

I have just dug out this photo of me aged 18 months, it threw me for a moment because I thought it was Sophia [above] I have never seen the resemblance before......

....poor baby, still Granny will teach you to make the best of what you`ve got

will we get wet ?
no

will all the water come into the train ?
no

will we see a shark ?
no

two little foreheads were wrinkled as we went through the Channel Tunnel on Eurostar, they didnt quite believe me, but coming back they never even raised an eyebrow