I lived with one set of grandparents from 4-18 and spent a couple weeks each summer with the other set. No visit from parents and no lasting damage. Just happy to have people to care for and love me!

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine not spending the summer with my kids. I understand long visits with grandparents (maybe a week or two if the kids are older), but the entire summer???

I don't understand this at all if the grandparents are a short drive away.

Please explain this to me.

I posted earlier. Last summer it was mostly due to circumstances. We had sold our house and hadn't been able to secure a new one yet, so we had nowhere for our child to stay. It was easy enough for the two of us to go from friend to friend and a week here and there at a hotel plus some weeks house sitting, it would not have been at all ideal with a child.

She talks about her summer constantly and keeps asking if she can go back this summer and when she can leave for their house again. We won't send her the whole summer this time, but she will likely go for a month. Grandparents are a 6ish hour drive away.

I started staying the summer with my grandma and aunt (in Pittsburgh) when I was 5 or 6. My brother, began to join me when he was about 4 or 5. My parents kept this arrangement until I was about 13.

We were taken up some time in June and didn't see our parents until they came to get us in August. I guess we got used to it after a while and it wasn't really a big deal. I know we missed our parents from time-to-time (especially my brother), but mostly it was a positive experience.

Best memories of childhood were staying with my grandparents in the summer. Even now it feels like home. I have fond memories of playing hide and go seek with cousins and catching fireflies. My parents lived 1000 miles away, but I had around 15 cousins and tons of aunts and uncles.

When my grandpa died, cousins and I spoke for a long time. They were surprised I knew where everything was in the house and my grandparents habits better than they did. They all lived 5 minutes away and saw them constantly, but I had stayed for weeks with my grandparents.

Parents came to visit and sometimes stayed for weeks with me. They went on their own vacations while I was gone.

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine not spending the summer with my kids. I understand long visits with grandparents (maybe a week or two if the kids are older), but the entire summer???

I don't understand this at all if the grandparents are a short drive away.

Please explain this to me.

My parents aren't a short drive away. They live in FL. My kids spent 2 weeks with them last year. This year they will spend 4 weeks with them and my parents will be driving them back labor day weekend. They will be 9 and 6yo.

Spent summers at grandparents' farm They were much nicer than my parents and they had horses, cows, dogs and cats, etc. New kittens every summer!

Parents never called or visited and I never missed them a bit. Hated going home.

^To answer your question, my mom and sometimes both my mom and my dad would come out for 2 weeks.

I spent the entire summer, every summer, on the opposite coast from my parents with my grandparents. I did this from age 4 through first year of college. I was very attached to them, had my own friends and life with them, each summer. I cried when I flew home each fall to start school.

I can't imagine not spending the summer with my kids. I understand long visits with grandparents (maybe a week or two if the kids are older), but the entire summer???

I don't understand this at all if the grandparents are a short drive away.

Please explain this to me.

Grandparents are great!!!

My parents watch my kids a lot, though we don't do all summer, they see them daily (we live in the same town here in NoVA) and then take them for a week at a time here and there, probably totaling 4 weeks a year, excluding random over nights.

My littlest is sick right now with the flu and has been miserable and feverish. Last night he was whimpering and was asking me to call his "grammy" because he wanted her to snuggle and make him feel better. He was convinced if grammy came, everything would be all better. She is a source of comfort for our kids. I called her last night and she was so touched. She got in her car this morning and rushed over to our hour so she would be there when he woke up. My kids have such a special and truly magical relationship with their grandparents. I know it was hard for my mom to become a mom at 21 when I was born, but wow, is she reaping some serious rewards now by being able to be such an involved grandma while still in her 50s. My kids are so lucky and so am I, since my DH and I get a lot of time alone with the ability to recharge our relationship.

Anonymous wrote:Our kid spent last summer with my parents. We visited once over the 4th of July. While she was excited to see us, she would have been totally fine without us coming, we were a distraction from Granny's fun plans. We Facetimed every day with her though.

Yep!
Grandparents are so much more fun than us boring moms and dads!
LOLOL!

Our kid spent last summer with my parents. We visited once over the 4th of July. While she was excited to see us, she would have been totally fine without us coming, we were a distraction from Granny's fun plans. We Facetimed every day with her though.

I spent all my summers...too young to remember when it started
My mom did not visit, and I was not upset about it.
Our DC spends most of the summer with my mom, we visit a couple of times...short drive and i miss my kid. DC likes to have us visit, but would TOTALLY get over it if not, having a great time with the grandparents, we are just the icing on the cake.
LOL!

Anonymous wrote:How old were you?

Starting when I was almost 6, my older sister and I (at the time almost 8) spent 4-8 weeks every summer with our grandparents, half with each set. We did this every summer until I was probably 11 or 12. My parents never visited during this time but I would talk to them on the phone. I was fine and I have no recollection of missing my parent terribly, it was just what I expected in the summer. We did know our grandparents very well. We lived in the same city as one set when I was born and I believe I spent almost every weekend with them for the first 4 years of my life.

How old were you?