Articles

Rochelle Furstenberg, Co-ordinator of the Senior Center, wrote tips for grandparents taking grandchildren on vacation. She then took three granddaughters, Rinat, Efrat and Linda to Europe, and at the end of their touring Paris, Florence and Venice, she asked them to write the tips they would give to grandparents. Here they are:

1. Grandparents must realize that their areas of interest might be different than those of their grandchildren.

2. Children are not particularly interested in museums! It's true that museums are air-conditioned, but kids still prefer shopping and movies to Boticelli and Da Vinci.

In the drama, "Disciplining Grandchildren," Violet criticizes her daughter Arlene because of the way Bobby behaved during the party. Arlene defends herself and criticizes Violet. Arlene feels hurt and angry. They distance from one another.

In the idyllic days when many grandparents still lived on farms, children would go down to spend part of the summer with them. They would learn how to milk cows and feed chickens, and inevitably experience an adventure, which would teach them a moral for life. At least, that was the formula for many children's books in an earlier part of the century.
One can only wonder whether these kids weren't ever bored. Didn't they ever act out, get fresh, gripe about the food or fight with their siblings? Today, grandchildren might not spend their vacations on the farm.