This. When they all lived a few hours away, we could go visit, teach them things and go home until the parents got them straightened out, then come back and start all over again! (We still have 3 that we can do this with.) Local DIL says, “If you do that with our kids, we’re close enough to drop them off at your house and you can live with the consequences of your actions!” We love having at least a couple of them close and spending time with them. We get to hang out, play with them for as long as we want, then give them back to the parents. If they’re being naughty, you let the parents deal with it. If one smells funny, you give it to the parents. I wouldn’t trade grandparenting for the world.
As far as kids leaving home… that was a hard one for me at first, but I have gotten used to having my space and time. When DS and family lived with us, we enjoyed having them here, but I think that’s because we knew there would be an end date. Not sure we’re ready to be the Waltons just yet. I do feel blessed to have all my kids on the same continent and in the same time zone.
