Lately I’ve been getting stopped by old nonnas in the streets, wanting to chat with me about the kids. They are the sweetest things, telling me I’m “so lucky” that I’ve got two girls, and that their own girls are now 55 years old. They pinch Abby’s cheeks and say “bella! bella!” and warn me to watch out for Peps if she stumbles a bit on the play equipment. Then they wander off down the road with their little trollies of fresh groceries and I hope that one day I’m a kindly old lady with a wistful disposition and a penchant for cheek-pinching.
I’m also reminded of my own grandmas as I am now back in Victoria, where they both lived (and one still does). Funny little memories pop up as I pass suburbs where they lived, or see a sign out to their country town. Like the summer I was 10 and went to stay with one of them, who considered it a MORTAL SIN that I’d showed up with a bag full of clothes and not one item of them was a singlet to wear under my t-shirt every day. I remember rumblings that my mother should know better, and a firm insistence I borrow her stepson’s singlets for the duration of my stay.
My other nana was aghast that I didn’t want my swimmers ironed before I went to the pool, and her mother (the one in the photo) for some reason had lots of packets of unopened giant underwear when she was about 96, and spent a good half an hour trying to give them to me.
Recently I found myself in conversation with another grandma who was full to the brim of old wives’ tales. Like I should cut Pepper’s wispy, straggly little mullety bit off “to thicken her hair up”, and that I shouldn’t still be breastfeeding her at 16 months because she “didn’t need it”.
It’s such a time capsule of days gone by, and I think it’s fascinating (so far nobody’s been forceful or annoying although I DO hate it when people talk to me through the baby). Things that were so important way back when are a a bit of a giggle now. I love a bit of quirky human, and can look back on the mortifying singlet incident now and laugh. Mostly.
I know I can’t be the only person amused and bemused, so hit me with your craziest grandma advice (my mum was told if you tickled a baby’s feet, they’d be pigeon-toed)! I wonder what silly and endearing things we’ll say when we’re old and grey.
Just wanted to say ‘HI Veggie Mama’..have just stumbled across your blog (via edenland xx) & wanted to say ‘wow, you are fantastic!!’. Im just starting out in the blogging world & recently have been questioning my antics..but you have certainly re-inspired me..so thanks for your hard work xx
oh how lovely, thank you! Antics are always encouraged 😉
Ha ha! Lovely old ladies. They do make me laugh with what they come out with! My nan wouldn’t go inside a supermarket without picking up a shopping basket or a trolley, even if it was for one small thing. She said people would think we were shoplifting. Yes, Nan. Me, a 10-year-old and you, a little old lady. Bless her.
Thanks for making me think about my old nan, Stacey. Miss her.
Oh that is funny! But I totally get her point 🙂
My grandmother once said to me ‘Carly. You’re such a pretty girl. If you were your normal weight, you could be a model.’ She geniunely thought it was a massive compliment.
hahah like you’d be all motivated. I know people who speak without thinking how it might come across regardless of their intention. I always have a bit of a giggle 🙂
I was always told if you tickle babies feet they will have a stutter! And was told the hair thing too so when both my bog boys were 1 they both had a wicked cockie curl on top of their head so we gave them a number 2 crew cut! Yes their hair grew back all the one length but was it thicker…who knows! I am tempeted to do Blake’s now as its growing over his ears & looks a bit weird….
My pop used to tell me all the time I was named after a witch. I thought he was being mean but turns out he was right!
I think it is different if you shave it that close to the scalp – you’re cutting the hair shaft at its thickest, so what grows then looks thicker. But if you cut off a straggly mullet, the thing that makes it a straggly mullet is still there! I love it, it’s long enough for a pony tail, haha
I can relate!
I have 3 girls and probably 90% of the time I get positive comments from Granma’s too (“Oh, all girls…I had all girls too!”). Or else they warn me about the teen years.
Or clothing expenses.
Or future boyfriends lol
Another time, a grandma saw my older two girls playing at the park, looked into the stroller and saw pink “Oh no. Another Girl. Don’t worry you can always try for a boy” and off she tottered.
The only time I’ve really been upset by a comment was when my 3rd daughter was a baby and I was walking down the street, carrying her in an ergo baby and holding the hands of my other two.
A granny came up to me in the street and told me how much she “hated those things” (the ergo). She was ranting and raving about how terrible they are and how babies can’t breathe in them etc. I tried to explain that it had been a lifesaver for me (eg. crossing the road I could hold the hands of my other two without having to push a stroller) but she wouldn’t listen. It doesn’t bother me as much now but at the time I was so emotional and fragile (and sleep-deprived) I nearly burst into tears on the spot 🙁
Haha maybe 150 years ago when she had kids, the poor things couldn’t breathe in them, who knows. Slings save the lives of mothers across the whole world, in all cultures. Broaden your mind, weird grandma on the street!
My nana was mortified that I didnt know what string really was when I was 10. I actually got in trouble. She always had lemonade and ice cream waiting for us and gave us a piece of apple going to bed to clean our teeth. I love Grandmas.
some grandmas are so cool. My nana always had soft drink and ice cream in cones for us too 🙂
Ah ha. My G-ma (as I call her, she hates it! She hates it more when I tell her it’s because she’s so hip hop) is a classic. On a windy day last week a few wheelie bins blew over on her street – so she called the police. She didn’t think that vandals were pushing over bins, she genuinely thought the police better know that bins are going over in the wind. Love her
THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!!!
I love my grandma well one of them anyway she always had chocolate biscuits and we could eat how Many we wanted and we never had to eat all our dinner either she was so cool and drove Mum mad!I want To be a cool granny when the time comes xx
haha she sounds awesome! I bet you’ll be amazing. Full of love and good wisdom x
Nanas are just the best. Although both mine have past and I am lucky enough to be a young nana to my stepchildren’s children. I am the luckiest person around to be able to have little people around me and look forward to my own daughters when they have there own children in years to come.
Oh yes, it’s SUCH a special time!
My Grandma is nearly 90 and is possibly the only person who reads every single blog post I write. Recently her vision has been reduced and she can’t read the screen, she told me she is really missing reading my blogs – she would be the only person I would maybe do a vlog for!
What an absolute legend! My pop would be that guy for me, if he was still around. He was great.
My Nan was the most amazing person (for me), she tended to deal in facts but she did assure me that the mole on my forehead was a sign of intelligence, a blatant lie but a white one. I tend to gravitate to older folk I find them interesting
I think they’re fascinating too. They’ve had so much time to see the world and tell you cute little lies 🙂