“Happy Grandma. Silly Grandma-The Kind of Love That Changes Everything.”
The other day, my grandson told me I am a happy grandma.My granddaughter, without hesitation, told me I am a silly grandma.They said it casually, as children do.But what they offered me was a truth far deeper than they could possibly know.Children don’t describe us through story or analysis.They describe us through felt experience.Happy means his body feels at ease with me.Silly means she doesn’t have to be careful.Those words aren’t about my personality.
They’re about how safe their nervous systems feel in my presence.
Children are always listening — not so much to what we say, but to how we are. They feel tone, pace, energy. They notice who moves slowly, who softens, who makes room for joy. They know who feels predictable without being rigid, playful without being overwhelming.
To a child, silly is not chaos.It’s permission.Permission to laugh.Permission to make mistakes.Permission to be fully themselves without consequence.
And happy isn’t about cheerfulness or positivity.It’s about presence.It’s about the unspoken message that says, “When you’re with me, nothing needs to be fixed.”
This kind of love doesn’t rush.It doesn’t interrogate feelings or demand explanations.It shows up on the floor. In repeated stories. In gentle rituals. In laughter that bubbles up without effort.It regulates before it teaches.It soothes before it speaks.It repairs the world quietly — without naming what was broken.
And one day, long after childhood has passed, they may not remember the details. But they will remember the feeling. And that feeling will live on as an inner sense of safety — a way of coming home to themselves when life feels uncertain.
If that is what it means to be a happy grandma and a silly grandma, then I will gladly be both.Because love doesn’t always arrive as wisdom.Sometimes it arrives as laughter.And sometimes, laughter is the wisdom.
Much of my work is about helping adults rediscover this same sense of safety within themselves — the place where nothing needs to be fixed, and everything can settle. If this resonated, you’re not alone.
