Before we had children, I heard about the idea of a child having a golden birthday. A golden birthday was when a person turned the chronological age that matched the numerical day that he was born on.

For example, our son Kevin was born on July 12. (He’s birthday is right around the corner. . .) So, his golden birthday was the year that he turned twelve years old.

The idea of having a golden birthday is to do something a little bit extra special for that birthday.

Golden Birthday Ideas

• The evening before the golden birthday, blow up balloons and put them in the grandchild’s bedroom. Twist two different colors of crepe paper together and make streamers that go from one corner diagonally to the other corner. (Obviously, this idea only works if you live close enough to your grandchild so you can go to her home to do this. And, the trick is to do it without waking up your sleeping grandchild. That way, she will be surprised in the morning.)
• Take your grandchild out for dinner — just you, grandpa, and the grandchild — to a nice restaurant (not the Arby’s style). Dress up in nice clothes to make it even more special.
• Take your grandchild to a special event that he would enjoy (e.g. a football, basketball, or baseball game; a funny play; an art show; an ice hockey game; a melodrama, a jazz performance). Make sure that you know your grandchild would enjoy the event. Nothing worse than taking a grandson to a Broadway play that bores him to tears.
• Make an extra special cake — or order one from the bakery or get an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.
• Buy a special gift that helps your grandchild remember his/her golden birthday (e.g. a charm bracelet and a charm with the date on it; a special book that you write in the front to tell him how special he is to you).
• Give your grandchild a ‘mini’ adventure birthday — a ride down an alpine slide, a ride on a zip line, a hot air balloon ride, a sky diving experience (if your grandchild is old enough and courageous enough!).
• Have your portrait taken together and give your grandchild a nicely framed copy of the picture.
• Go on a two day mini-vacation to a destination not too far away. This could be going camping over night or staying in a motel. Maybe having your grandchild help plan the mini-vacation would ensure that you would do something that he would enjoy.

In a more serious vein, you could do something that would focus on others rather than on ’self.’ You could serve a meal at a homeless shelter; do a community service project; sing songs at a nursing home; promote recycling in your neighborhood; help the Habitat for Humanity organization; write thank you letters to people who have been a good influence in your life; go to a local hospital and do something to cheer up the children in the pediatrics ward.

Make sure you fit your activities to the age and interests of your grandchild and to your time and your financial resources. Refer back to the posts about having a tea party and having a special red plate for more ideas.

If any of you have ideas of what you could do for a golden birthday, please leave a comment here and share your ideas!!

Happy celebrating!
Digi-Gram

GrandmaKarla sent me a follow up P.S. to the idea of art at grandma’s house. She has such enthusiasm. Such energy. So many ideas. I know that I shouldn’t compare myself to others. But at times like these, the blah-ness of me pales in the sparkling sunshine of the likes of Karla. It’s a good thing that my grandchildren will never know Karla so I won’t have to compete with all of the wonderful things that she does!

Here are her additional ideas that she uses:

• A drawer of scratch paper within easy reach of the children
• A drawer of coloring books
• A file drawer with plain and patterned scrapbook paper in hanging files according to color.
• Plastic shoe box of various flash cards - symbols, learning words, as well as math concepts.

“Organization is the key to enjoying life with grandchildren,” she said. “They tend to fly in, interact, then fly out, so you don’t want to clean up mess after mess, but to be able to do a “quick clean” after they leave.

“I also purchased boxes and filled them with the items (like I mentioned in my previous email) such as crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks and scissors, etc. and gave them to my daughter. She keeps them above the refrigerator. These items can be mailed to a distant child. They are relatively lightweight (except crayons, which could also melt in very hot temperatures while going through the mail). The boxes mailed could even be labeled “Grandma’s Art Box of Colored Pencils” so the far-away grandchild will feel a connection to grandma each time he or she does art work.

“Some studies have indicated that a child who can free-form color has more creativity. Some children however, like the occasional idea of coloring within the lines. In class yesterday (note: remember Karla is a university professor) we had student presentations on art and music in the home. (They were tremendous!) One girl said one of her favorite childhood memories was when her mother would color one side of the coloring book two-page spread and she would color the other. It was a magical bonding time for them. That idea could transfer to grandparents.”

Thanks for sharing these additional thoughts, Karla!

Digi-Gram

I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that today’s grandmothers are not the white-haired, gum-soled-shoe-wearin’, baby-bootie-crochetin’ grandmother from yesteryear. They are the cell-phone-tottin’, day-planner-usin’, Gap-shoppin’ woman. And one of those grandmothers has shared a little bit of what she does for her grandchildren. But first, a funny experience.

When we were on the zip line adventure in Costa Rica, there was a lady in our group who said that she was a wee bit nervous to go down the zip line by herself. There were eight different lines that we would go on. Some that were 600 feet above the ground. We would travel up to 44 miles per hour. And the longest line was half a mile long. It’s easy to understand why she was concerned.

So, one of the workers hooked his pulley behind hers, put his arm around her, and then off they flew together the line. After going down three of the eight lines, she jokingly said, “Does this mean we are going steady?” The Americans laughed at her joke. Those from Costa Rica didn’t understand what she meant.

I tell you this little story because this lady was 70 years old! (My husband thought she was 80.) Which ever age she really was, she wasn’t doing what you expect typical grandmas to do. She definitely isn’t a grandmother from days of yore.

There is a professor at the university where I work that shared a little bit of what she does with her grandchildren. But first, let me tell you a bit about her. She and her husband have 10 children (6 boys, 4 girls); five are birth and five are adopted. They have three married children (fourth almost married). The four younger children include the last birth child , a daughter (14), and the three younger adopted children — adopted from Kazakhstan in 1999, a Russian Tatar boy (13) a Kazakh girl (12) and a Russian boy (11). The youngest boy has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  This family is tremendously supportive and loving toward the boy. He is a very smart, artistic, wonderful boy. All children are healthy, happy, smart, and contributing members of their family, their schools, their own professions and society.

This grandmother has four grandchildren who live nearby. The son nearly married is commissioning into the US Air Force as 2nd Lieutenant and will begin medical school in August at the Uniform Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. He will raise his children far away from from her as he serves in the Air Force.

She is assistant Professor of Interior Design in the School of Family Life teaching and nurturing her 150-200 students each semester. She has authored three major textbooks and countless articles for Draperies and Window Coverings Magazines. She has so much energy, vitality, ideas, and enthusiasm. She almost makes me tired just talking to her!

Her name is Karla, and this is what she wrote:

“Often when grandchildren come over, they want to do something, but not necessarily leave their grandma’s side. In my kitchen I have a cupboard above the desk which is filled with clear plastic shoe boxes (available for about $2.00 each at home improvement or department stores).

“Each box contains a set of art supplies that can be set on the small child’s table we have, the kitchen table or counter top where the child perches on a bar stool. Each one contains one set of media and is clearly marked on the end of the box: Crayons, Watercolors, Play Dough, Markers, Colored Pencils, Stickers, Glue Sticks, Scissors (child safe with cutting patterns). I typically hand them a sheet or two of paper that has one side already used (from junk mail, for example), or if the child really wants to create an art masterpiece, I given them printer paper and patterned paper for scrap book projects. If the child selects water colors, he or she is required to don an artists’ apron, kept in a bottom kitchen drawer. I learned from sad experience that mother’s don’t like permanent water color stains on their children’s clothing, and children are not inherently careful with paints.

“This activity is always very satisfying for grandchildren. They can freely express their artistic side without demanding undue attention from this busy grandma. Often the art work must dry, so I leave it on the counter for a while, and if its really good, I tape it to a “show off” door for children’s art work - in sight of the kitchen. If its just a bit of scribbling, I drop it into the recycle can, where it was destined to go in the first place. The child never asks, but is often delighted to see it posted. Sometimes I send the art work home with them, but only if the parent approves of it first.”

Great ideas! I’m going to get some of those types of boxes for when our grandson comes over. Let’s see, if he just barely turned three months old, how long will it be before he will be able to use art supplies. . . .???

Here’s an extension to Karla’s idea. With your grandchild, print some coloring pages off the Internet. (A fun place to go is Coloring Book Pages.) Fasten the pages together to make a coloring book of pictures personally selected by your grandchild. Then, give them the crayons or marking pens and let them color away!

Happy coloring!

Digi-Gram

Destination: British India. Must start by escaping during a sub-zero blizzard from a Siberian gulag 450 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Travel arrangements include six companions from the gulag, little food, and only the clothes on your back. Trek 4,000 miles over the frozen Siberian tundra during the winter time, through Mongolia, then the Gobi Desert in July, over the Himalayan mountains, Tibet, and finally ending in India. Survival depends on going weeks on end without toiletries or baths or much water; on dining (when lucky) on small game, fish, and snakes; on the kindness of strangers with whom you cannot communicate due to different languages.

Cost: nothing — except your desire for freedom and your endurance to gain it.

If this were an ad on Travelocity, would you jump at the opportunity to participate in this travel excursion? No?

Then, the second best thing would be to read The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz. This is the true account of a young Polish officer captured in 1939 by the Russians. He was cruelly tortured in an attempt to get him to admit he was a spy. When he refused to admit it (because he really wasn’t a spy!), he was sent to the Siberian gulag from which he escaped.

Would I have the strength to endure the torture that he did? Would I thirst for freedom so desperately that I would be willing to escape from a prison into a wild ferocious Siberian winter? Would I have the discipline to get up day after day after day despite hunger and eternal tiredness to walk thousands of miles? What would I willingly endure to gain my freedom?

The Long Walk is an incredible book. I highly recommend that you read it — and count your many blessings for the freedoms that you enjoy.

Becoming a well-read,
Digi-Gram