15 ways grandparents want to be served by their grown grandchildren.

In honor my grandmother’s 80^th birthday, I’m kicking off a series of posts that share the answers people gave when asked:

“What are some ways to serve you?”

This one features responses from grandparents with adult grandchildren. And oh how we love our grandparents! If you’re blessed to still have grandparents in your life, here are 15 ways they want to be served.

1. Tell them things they can brag about. You may hate talking about your successes, but they don’t.
2. Let them show you off to anyone willing to meet you. You’re a living tribute to their lives.
3. Help them feel significant. Tell them the ways they’ve shaped who you are.
4. Ignore their advice if it doesn’t work for you. They just can’t help but offer it.
5. Don’t pick sides. Share your time with both your mother’s and father’s side of the family.
6. Send pictures of yourself. You’re grown so they no longer receive your annual school pictures, but they wish they did.
7. Call them often. And never underestimate the power of a surprise phone call.
8. Don’t worry about them dying. They hate for you to be sad about anything.
9. Let them teach you. Learn their traditions, skills, and recipes. They want to pass their wisdom on.
10. Call. (Oh wait, wasn’t that #7? I guess it came up a bunch of times.)
11. Achieve more than they did. Witnessing it serves their soul.
12. Call frequently. (Yes, they mentioned wanting more phone calls enough to warrant three slots.)
13. Make time to visit them for the holidays. It’s a major highlight of the year.
14. Reach out to them when you’re in need. They’d still rather serve you.
15. Tell stories about them forever.

Are you a grandparent? Anything we missed?

(The next post in this series will be on how parents can serve teachers. If you’re a teacher and would like to contribute your thoughts please send them to kserving@gmail.com).