Tag: grandsons

Posted in grandparenting, Life

Mother’s Day preparation

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I spent some time with my nine- and five-year-old grandsons yesterday while my daughter took my wife out for an early Mother’s Day brunch. When they show up at my house, the boys typically chase the dogs around, climb and swing on the play fort, and exercise with all the garage gym equipment. Yesterday the older rode his long board up and down the street while the younger did a few odd jobs to earn a few quarters. But then it was time for the main attraction.

One of my grandfatherly tasks was to get them working on Mother’s Day cards. I printed out a few card templates I found online, got out our bucket of crayons, and announced it was time to get to work.

To my surprise, they dove into the project with passion. They took their time carefully coloring the cards rather than hurried scribbling. Each was proud of his work, showing off color combinations and attention to detail. I enjoyed watching the “I love my mom!” side of the boys that is usually hidden behind a young man’s “What can I climb?” “How can I annoy my brother?” and (while hanging upside down from something) “Look what I can do!”

The five-year-old was filled with pride as he wrote his message inside the card, along with a bonus picture. The older thought, “I need to get her a present.” Boys definitely need a dad, but they sure love their moms!

I got a whole hour of focused worked out of them before they started asking about lunch. That’s impressive.

Posted in treasure

Finding treasures on the trail

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash

We took two grandsons and our two dogs for a hike on a beautiful, sunny, Florida spring afternoon last week. I primed them for the experience, telling them, “You find all kinds of treasures on a trail. You might even find some money!” Their eyes lit up when they heard that last part. At ages eight and five, they have become quite the shoppers, mostly for Pokemon cards. We made sure we brought some bags for all the treasures (and cash) we would discover.

Railroad tracks used to run through this part of the county and now it is a six-mile paved trail. Signs warned against getting too close to alligators, but I’ll bet they rarely crawl out of the swamp onto the path. There’s just too much foot and bike traffic on the path and more food near the water.

For a long time, we didn’t find much in the way of treasures. The trail is well-maintained and I was pleased to see hardly any trash along the way. We found a few pieces of broken glass, which we counted as treasures and placed in the bags. The first real treasure that caught my eye was a small, black metal cross. I thought it might be something that I could put on a necklace for one of the boys, but I don’t think it had a hole in it.

We only hiked a mile in, and then turned around to head back to the trailhead. That’s when something shiny caught the younger boy’s eye: a dime! Now that’s a treasure. Before long, the older brother spied a quarter. It wasn’t much, but it made the afternoon a success.

After a stop at Starbucks for hot chocolate and a snack, we headed home. Later that night, I said, “It’s cool that they actually found some coins.” My wife confessed, “Actually, I planted them. The boys were losing interest, so I dug a couple of coins out of my purse for them to find.” Very clever. The next time we go out, I’ll be sure to bring more “treasure” for the boys to find.