What About Your Future Grandchildren?

That’s the comment that shows up most under a video of our house, or a caption about the house showing we just had, someone will type it out like it’s a gotcha: “But what about your future grandchildren? What about having room for your kids when they come visit?”

For anyone just finding me here, a little context. I’ve been sharing our life online for years, and our family’s YouTube channel has followed us through building our home years ago, room by room, decision by decision. So when we started posting about selling our family home, a lot of people felt like they had a stake in the outcome. Which I understand, but it also means the comments do spark something in me that I don’t like.

I get defensive every single time. Not because it’s an unfair question, but because it’s the opposite. I LOVE the idea of being a grandmother. I have talked about grandkids that don’t exist yet like they’re already here. It’s going to be one of the most exciting chapters of my life, and I cannot wait for it.

But here’s what those social media commenters don’t consider - we don’t have any grandchildren yet, and we have no idea when we will. Even once we do, those first few years are usually pretty simple. It’s not until they’re school age that weekends start filling up with football games, cheer competitions, dance recitals, and all the little events we’ll want to be there for. When you really think about it, we probably have several years before our lives revolve around those kinds of schedules again. If we’re ever going to spend winters somewhere warmer or try living somewhere completely different for a while, this is probably our chance. Later on, we’ll happily trade that freedom for weekends on the sidelines cheering on our grandkids.

As for the space to have them over, that part was never in question. We’re not downsizing into a four hundred square foot, 1 bedroom house. We’re still planning on buying a decent sized home with spare rooms, and we have a basement full of toys we’ve been keeping over the years to turn into a playroom. We even kept the crib. If our kids want to drop off their baby or toddler while they enjoy a date night or take a trip, grandma and grandpa’s house will absolutely have the space for that. I don’t think being a good grandparent has anything to do with how many bedrooms your house has. I can recall staying overnight at my grandma’s house and the best part was staying up late watching movies and falling asleep on her couch.