FAMILY VISITS

We were blessed with family visits this summer!  It had been a long time since we were able to be “face to face” and we enjoyed every minute of it.  More on that in coming posts.  For now, I’d just like to remind you that not all households have the same “rules” or “expectations”.  This can be confusing and frustrating, especially for children.  Your adult children will understand and adapt more quickly to YOUR house rules/expectations than your grandchildren will.  Hopefully, in THEIR house you will also understand and adapt quickly to their rules/expectations.   As an example:  When our grandchildren were young, they lived in a tall apartment building.  Although there was an outside play area, it was far away.  So, almost every part of their apartment was available as a play space.  When those youngsters came to visit us, we all had to adapt.  We focused on “hand’s on” activities inside and free-play outside and at the park near us.  If we had not experienced and had some understanding of apartment living with them, we might have been more frustrated and less adaptive.  Although I know it often seems easier to have friends and family visit at our house, it is important that we spend time at their house with their rules/expectations.  That gives us a better understanding of their daily lives, how we can love and interact with them, and how we can pray for them.