A Grandparent's Influence

Text - Proverbs 13:22 "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.........."

I Plead with you....Don't take your grandkids for granted.....So many grandparents today act as if they could care less about their grandkids....Many grandparents are too wrapped up in their own life that they just haven't' got time for the grandkids

Don't wait on them to come to you.....
You make the effort to get involved in their lives...
and don't give up...

1) GRANDPARENTS ARE IMPORTANT IN GOD'S EYES...

You have the opportunity to have power and influence over a special group of people called Grandchildren that no one else has....If you use that opportunity you can be very, very special to these precious Grandchildren...

I had two very special Grandparents.......Mama Katie and Papa Lloyd.....probably two of the dearest people to me during my lifetime. They LIVED for their grandchildren.....
Everyday after school, they came over shortly after that bus dropped us home...

Every Friday night, we stayed all night and played washers, played rook, we went out to the barn at night and shot spatsies with the BB gun...after dark hunt night crawlers..

They came to every Little League game, every basketball game....every school event....

Never too busy to play catch, washers, etc.
Even grandma could pitch...she could bust em' in there!

Some of my most special memories of my childhood....
Opening day of Squirrel Season, or going fishing, or Grandma take us shopping....they were very frugal, but not on the grandkids!

I thought of this....(Many grandparents don't want kids to break anything) .....My grandparents converted their front yard in to a croquet field, their side yard into a washer pitching holes, their barn lot into a baseball field, and their drive way into a basketball court, (old ugly handmade backboard on the barn)
...and their basement into a ROLLER DERBY/HOCKEY RINK...
Some OF THE BEST MEMORIES I have as a child are in that house!

My grandma, mama katie, was one of the kindest sweetest ladies I ever knew...
but if you ever say ANYTHING BAD about one of her grandkids...YOU BETTER LOOK OUT BECAUSE SHE'LL BE
COMING AFTER YOU...!!!!

There are two types of Grandparents

ACTIVE GRANDPARENTS
*call their grandkids
*know the grandkids sizes
*ask to baby sit
*mark grandkids' special events on their calendars
*have the next trip to visit the distant grandkids planned
*display the latest school picture in their wallets somewhere
*can name their grandchild's very best friend

PASSIVE GRANDPARENTS
*wait for the grandkids to call or visit
*send a gift for the whole family
*baby sit only when asked (kids are a bother-mess house!)
*read about special events in a letter after the fact
*see the grandkids only when they stop by the house
*toss the latest school pictures into a box
*don't try to keep up with their grandkids' ages and grades

Which category describes you?
My grandparents were very ACTIVE.....not passive!

I hear grandparents today say "Don't bring the grandkids over between 5 and 6. That's when grandpa walks the dog....

We'd love to see them on Thursday, but that's Grandma's club night.

"I know the grandkids would love to go to Disney world, but I've already stood in enough lines for a lifetime."

Now there's nothing wrong with setting boundaries, but.......

Being a good grandparent just doesn't happen....you've got to work at it.....

It doesn't come without obstacles you must overcome...

Sometimes there is....

*Tension between you and the parents
*Grandkids seem not to appreciate you and all you do...
*The grandkids may live a long distance away.

*AS A GRANDPARENT you can be misunderstood and hurt....

*When grandkids visit you end up at department store and you buy a winter coat for Junior and their son complains "Didn't you think we could afford to keep our kids in warm clothes?"

*Jealousy....Grandparents take their daughter's grandkids on vacation and their son complains, "Why didn't you take our kids too?"

*Why didn't you come to our grandchild's ballgame?"

*Grandma offers to watch the children on Thursday night and her daughter n' law snaps, "We already have a capable baby sitter - Thank you."

Grandparenting isn't always easy and smooth, but the alternative is to walk away and ignore the grandkids....
and you just can't do that....

Book THE POWER OF A GODLY GRANDPARENT by Stephen and Janet Bly deals with all of these problems....a must book for every grandparent...




2) GRANDPARENTS HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE THEIR GRANDCHILDREN FEEL SPECIAL.

With the heavy responsibility of raising and supporting a family, with the financial pressures and the stress at the job, and the normal tension between a parent and children...

Most parents just don't have as much time as they really would like to spend with their kids...


Here is what one grandchild wrote:

Grandmas -
*give me things
*hug a lot
*FIX me BIG breakfast,
*Let me buy things at the grocery store that mom won't....
Accept me just like I am
want me to explain things they don't understand
like to smooch
Say things like "A few cookies before dinner won't hurt anyone"
Believe I can grow up to be anything I want to be...

Grandpas -
Tell really good stories
laugh a lot
get sicker than dads do
don't get embarrassed when you do something silly
need more naps than other people
let you do things others say you aren't old enough to do (driving as an 8 year old)
Can tell you what you ought to do without it sounding like a dad
know how to say "I love you" with their eyes
Think that you are the greatest kid in the world & get you to think it too...

Grandparents make you feel special because....
Grandparents have the opportunity to give their Grandchildren the TIME and ATTENTION that the parents might not be able to give....

An 8 year old wrote the following:

GRANDMA'S HAVE TIME

A grandma is a lady who has no children of her own so she likes other peoples' boys and girls..

Grandmothers don't have anything to do but just be there.....
When we walk they slow down by the spiders and centipedes, but they never say 'Hurry Up'.....

Usually grandmas are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes..

They wear glasses and sometimes they take their teeth out.
Grandmothers also wear funny underwear...

They can answer questions like why dogs hate cats and why God isn't married...

They don't talk like other people do....they say things we can understand....

When they read to us, they don't skip words and chapters, like moms and dads do...and they don't mind if it is the same story over and over again...

Everybody should have a grandma, especially if you don't have a TV, because Grandma's are the only adults that seem to have time.

Grandparents make you feel special because they are the world's best encouragers

(Cody was really encouraged last week when papa Don and Mama Mae were at his ballgame)

I would look for my grandparents at little league games or at basketball games...and even if I struck out 3 times and made the big error.....or didn't score a single point in the basketball game, they could always find some way to point out something good I did!

Even long distance, you can make your grandchild feel special....

We live in a different age today, parents don't seem to see the importance of the extended family and living near grandma and grandma, oh we must make a higher salary...

I say bologna......having those grandparents near those grandkids is worth that 10 or 20,000 more a year in salary!
Now kids live 100's of miles away....

but there are ways you can still stay in touch...
*Call and write often
*send videos of fun things you do
*fix scrap book of kid's achievements.....(My mom does this)

Project for Grandparents (28, POWER OF A GODLY GRANDPARENT, Stephen and Janet Bly)

a. Go to phone as soon as you can and call the grandkids whom you haven't seen or talked to in the longest time. Find out what he or she has been doing. No matter how old the grandchild is, end the conversation with "I LOVE YOU."

b. In the next several days, write a letter to each of your grandchildren...Include in your letter how you used to spend your days when you were their age.

c. Purchase pocket sized address book. Compile the names, addresses, phone numbers, clothes sizes, hobbies, favorite foods of each of your grandkids...




3) GRANDPARENTS CAN INTRODUCE US TO THE PAST

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN YOUR FAMILY HERITAGE

Psalms 145:4 "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts."


My grandparents would tell things about their earlier life and they really got me interested in our genealogy.....
That captured my attention!

I would ask them questions as we would travel through the old Butler Bottoms and they would show me where they lived and where their school was at Old Butler...and where the church was...and about how he used to go to church there and about the preacher & the big revival and cars would come from all over...
and it was neat to walk over that very ground....

Because of them I prepared a complete genealogy and made copies for all my brothers and sister and for my kids....
I even made a video traveling back over those places and talking about it.....

Parents keep those old photographs for your kids...someday they will be interested in them...& take plenty of new ones!

5) THE ABILITY TO TEACH GRANDKIDS YOUR UNIQUE SKILLS.

Psalms 71:17,18 "O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.


I learned a lot of things from my grandparents......

because they had the time....or took the time....to teach me...
It was my grandpa who taught me how to play washers, and cast a rod n' reel, and throw a curve ball....and how to drive as an 8 year old!


6) YOU CAN LOVE YOUR GRANDCHILD UNCONDITIONALLY....

Someone said the reason grandparents and grandkids get along so well is because they both have a common enemy...

Grandkids can come to the grandparents home free from the pressure and tension that might be at home between them and their parents...

Your grandkid might have serious problems (drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity, even the occult, even in prison)
right now in their life.....

Keep connected to them....

8) KEEP PRAYING FOR THOSE GRANDKIDS....

The one most powerful thing you can do...

but they might turn things around later on in life to make you very, very proud.... (There are countless examples)


8) GRANDPARENTS, YOU CAN BE THERE WHEN THEY NEED YOU.....

Grandkids need encouragement....
Grandkids will make mistakes and have problems...
The grandparent's home is a sanctuary...
Be a grandparent they can depend upon...
Be there at special events in their lives...


Be there for them if their parents divorce....

...there's a 50% chance your grandchild's home is going to be broken thru divorce before they grow up and move up....


9) LEAVE THE GRANDCHILDREN A SPIRITUAL LEGACY......

*Most important aspect of being a grandparent...set spiritual example....

2 Timothy 1:5 ""When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

This is the only mention of this grandmother in the bible, for we never hear her name mentioned again, but it does tell us something very important about her......

You have the opportunity to teach these kids about the Lord and the Bible that maybe your parents don't have....

Instill in them a love for the Bible....take them to church with their parents permission of course.....because most parents today don't go to church like they use to....you may be their only chance to get spiritual training....

Grandparents you have the power to be the WORLD'S BEST BABY SITTER....who would care about those kids more than you?

One of the best ways I know to do that is...with
Videos ....like Kids Sing Praise" fascinate kids, teach them about the Lord, and keep them occupied for hours......

Tell your kids what the Lord has done for you and how he has answered your prayers and helped you thru tough times...

Grandparents, you can play a very, very special role in the lives of your grandkids....

Be there for them...