Having survived all these years gives us license to share what we have learned. I find that all I have to do is apply the Dale Carnegie principle of speaking in terms of other peoples interest and they will eat it up.
I had just such an occurrence this morning. Each week when I speak to the grandkids I ask what fun stuff they are doing in school. My 11 year old bonus granddaughter went on a school field trip to Charleston, South Carolina last week. Two of the things they did was take a ferry to Fort Sumter and the other was to view the H. L. Hunley submarine. Both of these were destinations that my wife and I enjoyed years ago. We had a grand time sharing our observations and asking a ton of questions.
The magic is that these kinds of exchanges increase children’s interest in learning even more. It doesn’t take much to move from just talking with them to actually contributing to their enthusiasm about a subject. I usually check in with their parents and look for areas the kids are working on. Sometimes it is a matter of affirming an accomplishment or encouraging them in an area they are having to work particularly hard on. I find this raising Grandkids is a team effort. An added value is that I usually learn something new as well.
I guess Mr. Carnegie knew what he was talking about.
Thanks for being a Caring Grandparent.