Your relationship with your grandparents

[Anonymous]

If you grew up with 2 sets of grandparents, which are you closer with (mom's side or dad's), and why?

[Anonymous]

Neither. Both sets were mean. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

My mom's side. My dad's mom was not interested in grand kids other than for them to look nice in pictures. My mom's mom was awesome. Of course she died young, and my dads mom lived to be almost 100.

[Anonymous]

I'm a lot closer to my moms side. They live 20 minutes from my parents and always have. They babysat me until first grade every weekday while my parents worked. My dads mom lives 2 hrs away and I only see her a few times a year which is how it was growing up. My dads dad is in prison so I haven't seen him in years. My whole life he has been in and out of prison.

[Anonymous]

I grew up on Long Island, NY. One set of grandparents lived in Queens. One set lived in South Florida.

I saw my Queens relatives basically weekly. They came to every school play, chorus recital, gymnastics showcase, dance recital, birthday dinner, birthday party, report card celebration dinner, etc. If we had a 3-day weekend I'd often go spend it with them. When my parents traveled for my dad's job, they came and stayed at our house.

My Florida grandparents came to NY once a year. They stayed at my aunt's house, and came to our house for dinner once during that yearly stay. They NEVER saw my bedroom.

Queens - mom's parents
Florida - dad's parents

[Anonymous]

Dad's side. Both about 2 hrs away from our home (in opposite directions)
Moms father died when she was in HS, so just one grandparent on her side. She was youngest of 10, so most cousins were much older than us. Most importantly, grandmother did not speak English.
Dad was one of 2, so those cousins were close in age to us and we spent holidays all together as extended family. Both grandparents on that side were bilingual, so could communicate with us.
Combination of those age and language factors made the difference in the closeness of our relationships.

[Anonymous]

Grew up with both sets. One g/f died in my teens, both my paternal grandparents dies when I was in my 30s and my maternal g/m is still alive.

My maternal grandparents lived about 10 houses away form us growing up so I saw them pretty much every day. I was very close to them and I am still close to my grandmother.

My paternal grandparents both had fairly severe depression most of their lives. They had very little energy and weren't particularly chatty. I think they wanted to engage with us, they just couldn't. We used to go and visit them about once every six weeks. We would all sit around the living room and stare at the walls. My grandmother was a great cook and baker so we often had great snacks there. When they reached their 90s the grip of the depression seemed to lift and they became more engaged and friendlier. I spent more time their in my early thirties with them then I ever had before.

[Anonymous]

Why do you ask OP?

[Anonymous]

Dad's side. They were heavily involved in my life. Mom's side just wanted annual gossip and gave us checks.

[Anonymous]

moms.

We lived much closer to them (about a 20 minute drive, whereas my Dad's parents were a full day's drive away). Also they were more interested in us.

[Anonymous]

Mom's. They loved me very much. Dad's mom was well, nasty is an understatement so I tried as my parents encouraged it but she was never nice to the kids or my parents.

[Anonymous]

Grew up with 1.5 set of grandparents...dad's dad died young.

Closer to maternal grandparents, although they were hours away. paternal gm was local, but benignly disinterested in very young children and was busy working most of my growing up years.

[Anonymous]

20:54 forgot to say why I was close to my grandparents.

I think the mere fact that we had to travel to see them forged a close relationship. Spent every summer for weeks at a time staying with them and even considered going to college close to them. My grandfather was very much a strong father figure in my life...I had an absentee, addicted dad.

[Anonymous]

Dad's side. Mom's dad passed away when she was a kid and her mother is motherf-ing nuts. She shielded us from her till we were adults. We understand now why she did that.

[Anonymous]

Both my grandfathers were deceased.

Mom's side- used to baby sit us.

Dad's side - was to old to baby sit plus she hated my dad, so my mother didn't really want her around.