A Perfectly Bad Example of Grandparenting

I’m coming right out and saying something about myself as a grandma that my kids have long suspected. I fed three grandkids cookies all day one day last week. I wanted them of my hair and we’d been out of town and there wasn’t a fruit or vegetable to be found anywhere in my kitchen and I was trying to get cookies ready for the neighbors.

So there. Now their parents know for sure that what they suspected all along was true. I’m a bad influence.

I also kept them up late, and I mean REALLY, seriously late two nights and let them sleep in until 10:30 the next morning.

It couldn’t be helped. We had Christmas parties and we were having fun and it took awhile to home and get jammies on.

(I almost said it took awhile to get their teeth brushed, but that would be a lie.)

I know, the fires of heck are waiting for me. I don’t know how I raised five kids without killing them all. I’m a bad, bad person.

On the bright side, no one was hit by a car. Partly because they were inside watching cartoons. But still.

I didn’t take them to Las Vegas and lose them at cards. Or to McDonald’s for Happy Meals, which is worse.

As most of you who are grandmothers recognize, I have hit the trifecta of bad grandmothers: junk food, cartoons, and up past bedtime.

There’s a possibility that these children of mine also experienced a few days of junk food, cartoons, and late nights, which is probably why they are so dead set on perfect parenting. But somehow, they are basically alright now which they seem to have forgotten.

I think it’s good that my grandkids know what it’s like, for just one day of their lives, to eat cookies all day. It would probably be better if the cookies had made them sick but they didn’t. The lesson might have come home a little clearer then.

But unfortunately, everyone felt great the next day and we were all so tired from staying up late that no one was hyper that night. We all just dropped like little sugar-packed flies.

And they absolutely LOVE me. What’s not great about loving your grandmother?

I have to admit that after a couple of days even I felt guilty and took one of the kids to the store to get apples and carrot sticks.

After this week, going back to school may even be a relief to them. Deep in their hearts they must know that hanging out with me is walking on the wild side. On the bright side, it will teach them to stay away from bad companions when they’re older. They’ll know to stay away from people who feed them cookies all day, metaphorically speaking.

Except they won’t. We all felt great the whole time. And I’d do it again next year.

And so would they.