Wot a fantastic idea!

[grandmabet]

Well done, mumsnet, for giving us grans our own thread. It will be nice for us to put our point of view, from our perspective, and even to have a good old moan, like the mumsnetters. My big beef at the moment is Christmas - do other gransnetters have a problem with this - what does your family do?

I am nowhere near being eligible for this section but I just wanted to say what a great idea! If I didnt think my MIL might look me up I would definitely recommend it.

Welcome all grans! What a good idea to have our own thread. Christmas........ 7 grandchildren, say no more!

Great idea! Count me in!
grandmabet... Christmas poses problems for me too..what to buy g'children who seem to have masses of toys ( last year's gift, clever construction set, seems to be ignored; however ski outfit much appreciated!) so should it be clothes (boring) this year?

lo0l

Hello Eveyone,
My daughter sent me the link for this, So I guess she wanted me to join. So I have. Best watch what I say tho', no doubt she will be keeping an eye on me. Who'd be a mother?

I am grandma to one wonderful little nearly 8month old tinker. She has loads of stuff and doesn't need anything. What shall I buy her for Christmas? I am thinking just something small and being sensible and putting a bit of money in her account. Am I am being miserable?

Becs- (sorry non-granny here!)

I think that's a great idea. She'll appreciate the extra funds later when she's older (for holidays with you maybe?!) & you can get her a small toy or baby book.

Easy one: ok I know that this might not work for you if you have children still over the barrel with the "what did you GET for Christmas?" question when they go back to school in January, but I revolutionised my Christmas experience several years ago by saying to my children (then late teens) that I would be using their birthdays as the opportunity in the year to really treat them, so birthday pressies would be 'bigger', and Christmas would then be just a smaller present. They went with this idea, and now what we do is to put a few ideas down on paper for small things we might like, say books, CDs etc, of £15 or under, and if you have no ideas, you can suggest a surprise. Quite often one of us has got an idea for someone else already.
The lists then circulate round everyone else and then the best thing is that two or more people looking at someone else's ideas list might say, "I'll find this if you find that" and so everyone is concentrating on what they would like to GIVE someone else, and anyway you forget what you put on your own list pretty soon.
Then on Christmas day we go to church and treat the meal as a bigger than normal Sunday roast and we have a delightful time opening up all our lovely presents and remembering some of the things we put down weeks ago, before going out for a walk or slumping in front of the tv.
What this means is that we can forget all about the rampant commercialism that goes on for months and keep it simple: remember guys that Christmas is supposed to be a religious festival, not a monster opportunity for all the shops to sell us things we don't need - and bankrupt us!!

Well this is great!
I have been reading threads from the girls for some time, having been introduced to the site by my dd.I asked MN Towers if I could join too and they said yes, of course!so I did and now here we are, grans together. I'm not good at finding my way round the site though and so I hope it will be easy to get back here!!
I am granny to 3 beautiful, glorious new little people - feel very blessed- and look forward to griping along with the rest of you!
Happynetting to us all.

yes this site is wonderfall for bringing other grans together.my youngest grand daughter is 8 months and started getting into everything. my daughter is on mumsnet so told me about this one cool.

FieryGlassSlipper

Why don't you just change your nickname and not tell your daughter. As long as no names are mentioned she can't really identify you with any certainty. I think it could be quite fun if she reads the threads and comes back to you, quoting what you have said but completely in the dark. Give it a try!

Just noticed this ..another gran here.. 2gorgeous dgs 4 and 2 hard work but I love em..but im not quite ready for my shawl and rocking chair yet

Hurrah for gransnet!!! I'm not a gran just a new mum but wouldn't have coped at all without the help of my wonderful mum! Grandmas are the best!! xxxxxx

Not a Gran either but if you don't mind my opinion on Christmas .....

I would like my DM and DMIL to tell me what they really want to do. I find it really hard second guessing and then maybe getting it wrong - both with Pressies and who goes to who. Frankly I would really like us all to get together at our house and if I had their help preparing it would be manageable. I am really lucky to have a good relationship with both of them and I know not everyone would want this but I would love it

I am going to send my Mum the link to Gransnet so you will have a new member soon - Dad will curse me - soon he will be moaning she never gets off the net! (which is what she says about him ).

Callmeovercautious

Welcome to Gransnet - everyone welcome!

Why don't you just invite your M and MIL - I am sure they would be delighted to be asked - I know I would! And they are sure to want to help with everything and then also play with the children. One of my daughters (who is so well organised) starts asking around August what is happening at Christmas, and although a bit early it is good to have someone to take the initiative.

Looking forward to welcoming your Mum - Dad could join as well of course then he wouldn't be able to curse!

Just wanted to say Hi, 1st time here although looked at site before because dd told me about it. DP and I moved to Australia in July 2006 leaving behind 2 DD, 1 DS and 1 GDS for him and 2 DD and 1 SIL for me. (no1 DD & SIL found out they were expecting their 1st just days before we left England. We made it back to England for DGS christening when he was 5 months old and we are expecting the whole family plus neice (6 kids between ages of 17 & 26 + 2 baby grandsons)to stay over Xmas and New year. CANT WAIT!!!! 37 degrees here at the mo so stocking up on high factor sunscreen to protect whole family is more important here than thinking of Xmas itself. Any other long distance grans out there... I live for emailed photos, long phone calls and webcam chats with my beautiful dd's and dgs.

Why do we need our own group?

I'd just rather mill around with everyone else.

and Grans (nans, nannys, nanas) are STILL 'mums' too!

Gransnet hasn't really taken off, has it?

I thought it would be a great place for us Grannies to chat but, perhaps, all we really want to do is boast about our own granchildren and how clever/beautiful/wonderful they are, and who wants to read other people's boasts when your own are obviously superior!

hi granny 22 how many u got great arent theyxi have 3 granddaughters age 4,3 and 13 weeksx

What a brillant idea having gransnet I am a novice one grandson and another due in Feb. the one thing I can say has changed since I was a mum is why o why do they start Potty Traing so late my daughter says I must be telling lies when I told her she was dry day and night at two yrs old

Hello pau

I think we grans have to get used to the modern way of thinking. I thought my grandson would never be potty trained as he did not seem at all interested. However he started kindergarten at age 3 and was potty trained within a few days. I think because they have disposable nappies it is not such a bother washing nappies etc.

Hi scottishgran, All smiles now daughter put Grandson on potty for the first time (he is 18 months), he did a wee ,clapping and lots of encouragement so he stood up and did a poo on the floor!!! at least he was in the right room the bathroom. Oh well things can only get better

I don't think grandson even sat on potty till about 2 and a half and probably did nothing in it till nearly 3. Even then it was just luck. However the eventual process was really quick. good luck.

I am happy to say that potty training my 4 girls is just a distant memory. I do not envy any mother that chore. And when my daughter asks "when did you do it with us mum?" I shall have a senior moment and reply, " don't remember love, I have to go home now, see you in a few months.

As for gransnet not really taking off....maybe we are all just buzy being grans?

are we still all buzy being gran's? I hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am!