Are you my Grandmother?!

Yesterday a friend of mine left what he thought was a cheeky comment on my facebook status. Not a lot of my friends know that I started to knit when I was pregnant, in fact many of them would fall over with the thought of me sitting comfortably by a fire with a ball of wall, two needles and a knitted creation.  I'm not exactly 'grandmother material'.

Which makes you think, what is 'grandmother' material? I know some fabulous Grandmothers or Nonnas or Nana's or Nanny's, and they all have one thing in common: an abundance of enthusiasm for children. Fantastic grandmothers want to improve the life of a child in any way they can.

Granny Annie & her two grandchildren

Fantastic grandmothers can play children's games all day. It doesn't matter if the child is a baby and only wants to watch a friendly face move and make soft noises at them - a grandmother will do this all day! Or if the child wants to 'help' fold the washing, a grandmother will willingly play tents, flags, kites... with the sat up baby until it falls over with giggles. Grandmothers can be found in play parks pushing little ones on swings, running behind trees for peek-a-boo games, or sitting little ones on their knees making the booboo go away, wiping the tears and placing them back on their feet.

Look my Granny showed me
how to do this...

Fantastic grandmothers let children do things their mother would not. Shhhhh don't tell Mummy, I hear. Hmmm oh dear, what are they doing now.... Ho hum. Granny is teaching baby how to turn on the water tap of the water butt. Gee thanks Granny. Granny and baby are pressing all the buttons on the CD player... d'oh! Thanks Granny. Eeek Granny is letting baby eat that juicy peach in her Sunday clothes...Oh too late. Thanks Granny. Baby is happy to toddle to granny rather than Mummy and ask for 'up' so that they can go on new adventures!

Fantastic grandmothers listen to children. It doesn't matter if the conversation is over the magical Skype or on the phone or in person. A grandmother will listen to what the child is trying to say and will wait for the appropriate time to provide a response. It's a special conversation between child and grandmother - they have their own language. I often here 'oooh really we had one of them but the wheels fell off' as a response to a particular ramble, DangerBaby thinks this is really funny and will do her 'granny laugh', which makes Granny laugh... and they both laugh together in their own joke!

Fantastic grandmothers overreact. I don't mean an overreaction to parenting techniques or situations, nope fantastic grandmothers overreact to the slightest incentive from the child. EVERY loved child I know has a 'granny cough', a pathetic noise that makes their grandmother throw her hands to her face and say something like 'Oh dear, that is a bad cough! Quick Granny cuddle it better'. Or a Granny laugh where the little one mimics the laugh of the elder, hoping that the laugh will be shared.

I could go on, there's lots of things fantastic grandmother's do. I know, I'm lucky enough to know lots of awesome grandmothers.

I recently read 'Great Mothers get promoted to Grandmother'. Well I hope to become grandmother material, with or without the knitting needles!