Knee-deep mud hole makes visit to grandparents' house special
Published: 11/22/2012 6:00 AM
Last Modified: 11/20/2012 11:59 AM
Grandparenting was a central topic of conversation last week when I got together with long-time friends on a visit to Wisconsin.
My old canoeing buddy, Paul, who lives on a farm, said he always wants to be sure the grandkids visiting his house have something special to do; something they couldn’t do anywhere else.
So he made them a mud hole, knee-deep squishy black mud they could roll around in and throw at each other.
“They love it,” he said.
He didn't say what their parents think about it.
When they are through playing in the mud hole, he hoses them off, puts clean clothes on them, and lets them play with the goats and chickens on the farm.
We have a few things like that at our house, but a little more conventional. Visiting grandkids can cut long, slender sticks from the bamboo forest and cook hot dogs and S’mores in the outdoor fireplace. (They love making S’mores, but eating them is an entirely different matter.)
The bamboo forest in a back corner of my lot is a dark and mysterious place that the little ones love to explore. And they love hunting for fresh lettuce, cucumbers, peas and beans in the garden, and popping them uncooked into their mouths.
The biggest attraction is the pool, an old, above-ground pool where most of them learned to swim. Just as the older ones are getting bored with it, younger ones come along who love it. Every year as I wrestle with leaves and chlorine, I think about taking it out, and every year I can’t bear to do it.
It’s something that makes a visit to Nonny and Papa’s house special.
On a different note, here’s a comment from reader Carol Round that I enjoyed:
“My parents had a bumper sticker on their car which stated, "If we had known how much fun grandkids wuz, we'd had them first."
”I have to tell you that I resented that bumper sticker until I became a grandparent. Then, I understood. I always tell people that grandchildren are a reward from God for not killing your teenagers.”
Written by
Bill Sherman
Staff Writer
