Spending time with your grandchildren helps to foster a deep emotional bond, and it also gives your child some quality time to spend with their partner. As your grandchildren get older, they can enjoy more exciting and varied leisure activities with you, such as taking a trip away.
It can be expensive spending time with children, but it doesn't have to be. You can enjoy trips away that don't cost the earth if you plan ahead and book early to avoid the price hikes that come with the beginning of the school holidays. If you think back to your best memories from your childhood, the greatest ones were not the ones where you had the most money spent on you, but the ones where you laughed the most and had the most fun are the memories that you really treasure.
Children probably have the most fun on holiday when they are in the swimming pool, so make sure that you choose a resort that offers pool facilities when you go away. That way, you can sit down and relax while they splash around and make new friends. If you just have one grandchild, consider letting them bring a friend, that way, you can have some quiet relief while they entertain each other.
There are a number of different types of holiday you can take with your grandchildren that will keep the whole family entertained. Perhaps a trip to where you went to university, or revisit the place that you went to on your honeymoon so that you can show your grandchildren where it is that you, and therefore them, came from.
Another idea is to go away on a special interest trip. If you or your partner loves photography, you can use this as an opportunity to share your interests with your grandchildren. You might even inspire a hobby that could last a lifetime, or guide them into an exciting career path. Another popular hobby is bird watching. You can go away to a special bird watching sanctuary, such as those in Portugal's national parks. A more contemporary hobby is geocaching. Using GPS in a phone or GPS unit, you can go out hunting for hidden treasure in the form of caches, which you find using the GPS coordinates. There are caches all over the world, from your local park to anywhere in the world. Write your details in the logbook, and keep hunting for more.
Going away with your grandchildren can be expensive. By looking for special deals such as free child's places and booking your trip abroad with a budget airline, you can keep your costs down. Food costs can be kept low by going all inclusive or by having a packed lunch every day.
Holidays away can be really stressful, even if you have managed to book a stay in your dream destination, such as a week in Venice. Even once you've booked cheap flights to Venice from Manchester, you've still got to make sure that you can entertain everyone from take off to dropping them back home with mum at the end of the holiday. Plan ahead, with a fun packed itinerary which caters for everyone. Going to art museums may be your idea of heaven, but not all children will feel the same way. There are plenty of museums that offer hands on ways to learn and interact with exhibits. Try water parks, zoo visit and theme parks to keep everyone's spirits up.
Make sure that you take deep breaths when you get stressed, and remember that your grandchildren look to you as a role model. Treat everyone around you with respect, and you will teach them to do the same.