One
of the truly rewarding activities in life is connecting with
grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
No
one was better at that than my mother Norene Thomas. She had
her children later in life and her children were a little slow in
having grandchildren. But when they came, she was the grandmother
“ready to go.” She had been a second grade school
teacher and had saved many of her wonderful projects. She had more
ideas and activities waiting than you could imagine.
Norene Thomas
It
has also been fun for me to see my friends get involved with their
grandchildren. My neighbor, Nancy McCormick, was an elementary school
principal. Over the past few years she has operated a nanny school
once a week for her grandchildren. The kids come to her house and she
has projects for them. I will often see them sitting on the lawn
while she reads a book to them.
I
asked another friend, Sunny Redd, from LaSalle, Utah what she thought
was the most important quality of being a good grandmother. Without a
minute of hesitation, she said, “enjoy them.” Sunny has a
lot of grandchildren and great grandchildren. She said, “I find
the key is to do things with them in small groups so that I have
plenty of time to make each one of them feel special.”
Here
are two ideas that I saw my mother do with her grandchildren:
1. Fishing
at Grandmother’s House:
Mother had some old rubber boots and an old fishing pole that she
would use when the grandchildren came to fish. The items that she
needed for the project included a pair of old plastic boots the kids
would put on for wading, and an old fishing pole or long stick that
she would tie a 5- to 6-foot string to that also had a clothespin
tied to the end where the hook would go. She had an old sheet that
she would hook to the doorframe about two feet down from the top. The
sheet was set and the prizes were ready to go when the grandchildren
came. My mother worked the front side and my dad was on the backside
in the fishpond. Mother would help the kids put on the wading boots
and then give them the pole so they could put it over the top of the
sheet. My dad would be on the other side and clip the prize to
the clothespin. Then he would tug a little at the line as each child
pulled the string back over the sheet, making it a bit of a challenge
for them to catch the big one. They all had lots of fun.
2. Special
Picture Letters:
My parents went to Nauvoo on a mission. While they were gone, my
mother was faithful to send the grandchildren picture letters. She
would write the letter and every so often there would be a little
colored crayon drawing to go with the descriptions. For example, she
would write and tell them that they lived in a red brick house. Then
next to that sentence would be a picture of a little red house.
Sometimes she would write “we went to visit a beautiful lake”
and right next to the description would be a circle painted blue. To
this day, my mother’s letters are treasured in the
grandchildren’s scrapbooks.
A
bit of my mother rubbed off on me. After I got my degree in home
economics from BYU, I taught at Orem Junior High for three years. My
path led me to writing a book on outdoor camping and cooking titled
Roughing
it Easy,which
became a New
York Times
bestseller.
It
was not long before I found myself as a regular on NBC’s
“Today” show for eight years. On the show it was my job
to come up with unusual ideas for families to do activities that
would bring them together. The ideas that I created for the show went
into another book I titled Holiday
Fun Year Round.
I took great pride in creating this book, which is packed with ideas
that mothers and grandmothers can use to bring their families
together.
This
year I decided to create two DVDs to go along with this
memory-building book. If you are looking for fun ideas to do with
young children, you will love this special holiday book and DVD set
offered below. Have fun creating and working with your families to
build memories that will last forever.
Dian’s
Holiday Fun Book and DVD Combo Special
This
special offer includes Dian Thomas' Holiday
Fun Year-Round
book plus her NEW 2-DVD set, Creative
Holiday Ideas
with Dian Thomas. You’ll love the holiday ideas in the
full color book (nearly 200 pages). See
the best of Dian’s ideas on the DVDs from her 30+ years on
national television! Her warm, energetic personality comes to
life on your screen. Regularly
priced at $59.98, this package is being offered for the holidays at
only $24.99 — just in time for the holidays.
Don’t miss this opportunity to create some lasting memories
that you’ll cherish forever.
Dian Thomas was blessed with the good fortune to be born near and raised in
the remote, breathtaking Manti-La Sal National Forest in southeastern Utah,
where her father was the forest ranger. She took the skills she learned in the
outdoors and turned them into a New York Times best-selling book, Roughing It
Easy. Her appearance on the NBC's "Tonight" show with Johnny Carson
boosted her into the national media scene, where she became a regular on
NBC's "Today" show for eight years and then ABC's "Home Show" for six years.
After more than 25 years of media exposure and 19 books, she now shares her
practical insights and wisdom with audiences who want to savor life.
A former Relief Society president, Dian is currently serving as a visiting
teacher. Visit her website at www.DianThomas.com