Life is filled with many joys, but perhaps the best of all is being a grandparent. It can be hard to watch the children that you have raised for the past 18 years leave home to start a life of their own, but in a few years when that “empty nest” feeling is replaced with grandchildren and you see your own children start a family of theirs, the rewarding feeling is like none other.

It’s hard to limit the perks of being a grandparent to only 5 reasons, and there really aren’t any negatives to the title, but read below to find out some of our favorite parts about the job.

1. Learning About Your Grandchildren

Each grandchild is different and precious in their own way and learning about what makes them “them” is fun and special. Whether it’s learning about their personality while baking together, kicking a soccer ball in the backyard, or reading a bedtime story, over the years you will experience their personality begin to shine. Planning bonding activities to do with your grandchildren will help keep you young at heart and allow you to reminisce on the similar plans you did with your own children when they were that age!

2. Reexperiencing Those Firsts

Surely, you can’t remember everything about your children when they were young and growing up, but those special first moments that happened in your life will stand out to you. Now you can experience them all over again with your grandchildren. Your child’s first — breath, smile, step, word, birthday, day of school, time behind the wheel, prom, date, graduation, and surely much more — filled you with an overwhelming sense of pride and love. You will experience those same feelings again watching your grandchildren grow up and have their own first milestones.

3. Watching Your Children Experience The Joys of Parenthood

While raising children of your own, the days may have seemed to go slow, but the years have gone by fast and being a parent can prove to be a hard feat with challenges of its own. But watching your children experience all of the joys that parenthood brings makes all of those late nights, tears, and argumentative teenage years worth it. The years won’t slow down anymore this time around, but it will prove just as rewarding. Plus, you can spoil your grandchildren during the day but send them home at night without having to live through all of those sleepless nights and tantrums again!

4. Passing Down Family Traditions

Every family has a tradition, heirloom, or story that they pass down their family through the years. Watching that special family treasure, which was once passed to you from your parents and that you shared with your child, get passed down another generation is truly the best feeling in the world.

5. Unconditional Love

The endless supply of hugs. The messy kisses. The sweet and soft “I love yous.” These are the treasured moments that make being a grandparent the absolute best. There is something special about the grandchild and grandparent bond that is irreplaceable. Grandchildren look up to their grandparents and rely on them to provide them with the same unconditional love that they give right back. You may have thought that your heart was filled to capacity with love before, but it grows even bigger each time a new grandchild is brought into your life.

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