Sometimes, grandchildren take a long time to understand what grandparents are trying to do for them, but eventually they get it! In the case of Mary, it took years! Here is her story.

When Mary was a little girl, she loved to go out to her grandmother’s farm on weekends and help Grandma  with the household chores. Grandma Mary was an extremely kind and patient woman and Mary loved to help any way she could. Grandma always made Mary feel important.

One of Mary’s favorite chores was helping Grandma bake chocolate chip cookies. Since Grandma didn’t have much money, Mary’s job was to place three chocolate chips in each cookie. Every once in a while, when Grandma wasn’t looking, she would put as many as six chips in one cookie.  She would always save that for herself. 
 
One day, Grandma asked Mary for a special favor.  She said to Mary, “Do you know what two-thirds of a cup of flour is?” Little Mary looked at her grandmother in a strange way and said, “Sure, I know what two-thirds of a cup is!” 

Little Mary knew that Grandma had only gone to school for eight grades, so maybe she thought maybe she never learned what two-thirds of a cup was! Grandma said with a smile, “I am so lucky you came to help me Mary. How else would I be able to make these cookies?” 

From that day on, Mary always did the measuring of the flour, because Grandma didn’t know how to do it! Now Mary had two jobs she could help her Grandma with and that made her feel even more important!  Of course, Grandma really did know how to measure the flour, but wanted Mary to feel good about helping. 

Many years later, when Mary was in high school, she grew to understand the real truth. She felt so embarrassed that she had thought all this time that Grandma Mary wasn’t very bright.

So you see, sometimes it takes years for our grandchildren to realize the little things we do for them. When our grandchildren are ready, they will know.

Don Schmitz is a popular speaker and writer on parenting and grandparenting. He is the author of The New Face of Grandparenting…Why Parents Need Their Own Parents and founder of The Grandkidsandme Foundation and Grandparent Camps. Don holds graduate degrees in Education, Administration and Human Development. He is the father to three sons and nine grandchildren. Contact Don@grandkidsandme.com