By Joey Fehrman

I have recently been spending quality time with my grandparents and have definitely enjoyed it.  But unfortunately many grandchildren just see their grandparents a couple times a year at family gatherings where there isn’t an opportunity to form a close relationship.

Here are five overlooked ways (plus one bonus way) for grandparents and grandchildren to spend more quality time together.  I hope you like it and feel free to share it.

1. Grandparents Sharing Their Wisdom

Grandparents have more life experience than the rest of the family, and I feel they don’t share their wisdom enough.  You can change that!

• Share life lessons and advice in the areas of relationships, money/finances, and health
• Teach a skill.  Ideas include:
  • How to cook a secret family recipe
  • Teach skills from a previous job that could help the grandchild
  • Grandparents know a lot about a lot of areas.  They can teach a topic that others are interested in
• Tell about the family history/heritage
• Share regrets/mistakes from the past When grandparents tell their grandkids about regrets from their own life, it helps future generations avoid repeating those same mistakes

2. Set Goals Together and Achieve Them

Everyone has goals, but not everyone is actively pursuing them.  It is more fun to tackle goals with someone else, so why not have that person be a family member?

Do you think it is too late for a grandparent to learn new tricks or accomplish great things?  Nonsense!

• Colonel Harland Sanders didn’t open his first KFC restaurant until he was 62 years old, and about a decade later he was a multi-millionaire
• Harriet Thompson didn’t start running marathons until she was 76 years old, and she recently set a national time record at 91 years old

The grandchild and grandparent can set the same goal or completely different goals.  The important part is that they encourage each other.  They can also act as accountability partners for each other where they set smaller goals each week and see if they followed through.

3. Experience Something New Together

Research shows that when two people experience something new together for the first time, it forms a deeper connection between them.

• Visit a new place together.  Examples include:
  • A new exhibit
  • Explore a nature trail
  • Take a road trip across town to try a new dessert place
• Better yet, rather than doing an activity just one time, do something where you can see each other multiple times.  Examples include:
  • Rebuild a car
  • Discuss a novel as you’re reading it
  • Learn an instrument
  • Take golf lessons

4. Laugh Together

Laughter not only has health benefits, psychologists have also shown that it helps develop stronger and closer relationships.  Ways to share laughter include:

• Go to a comedy club
• Tell each other about your favorite funny movie, then watch it with them
• Share funny stories (especially about other family members)

5. Get All the Grandchildren Together At Once

It is good for grandparents to spend one-on-one time with each grandchild because they will learn far more about each other than they would at a big family gathering.

But it is also fun to have all the grandchildren together with just the grandparents (no parents).

Group family activities include:

• Volunteer together
• Play Two Truths and a Lie: a classic get-to-know-each-other-better-game
• Go to the zoo, amusement park, or movie theater

6. Bonus Idea:  Combine All of the Above Into One Activity

I started exploring this topic because I am an author and grandparents were buying my book for their grandchildren as presents.  (My book, Pirates of Financial Freedom, is an adventure novel that teaches financial literacy to young adults in an entertaining way.)

One way to combine all the ideas above is to read the book together.  Grandparents can give a copy to each grandchild then everyone gets together to discuss a few chapters at a time.  You can talk about what you have learned, grandparents can share money lessons from their life, and everyone can laugh as their favorite funny moments from the novel are shared.  The last chapter in the book is a step-by-step goal setting guide that everyone can use to accomplish their dreams.

You can learn more about Pirates of Financial Freedom and see sample pages at bit.ly/POFFbook.

Your Turn

Do you have additional ideas?  Post them in the comments below to share with others.

Did you find this article helpful?  Please share it to help other grandparents become closer with their grandchildren.