If you're considering asking a grandparent to help out in the holidays - or you're a grandparent yourself, then read our story of one Grandma who had a rewarding experience looking after three under 7 for a month.

During a phone call from my daughter one day I learned she needed a 'Nanny come child minder' for the month of January. She was working on a consultancy in London and her husband, who had been based at home, had accepted a permanent position which he was starting before Christmas.   Au pair, official child minder, after school club, all day nursery what should they do to accommodate their two young sons and even younger daughter.  After a really difficult year during which they had embarked on the exciting new project, lecturing on Marketing at a local University and anything else that came into their Consultancy, it looked as if they could stabilise their income and concentrate on the business ?but they were one month's cover adrift.

My husband and I live in Cape Town, quite a hike from Datchet in Windsor.   I felt quite useless, especially as the thought of a month spent with my three young grandchildren offered me the type of challenge I knew I would enjoy.   But what would my husband say?   Well, it was him who suggested it.   He would stay at home and look after our two dalmations, one of whom was in the latter stages of her life and slowly dying from cancer and I should offer to go to help them in the UK.   We live on a golf course, surrounded by wonderful fynbos and wild life so he would have plenty to do playing golf and enjoying the surroundings.  We called our daughter and asked if she would like me to come.

So that was settled.   A few minutes on the internet and wonderful British Airways had my flights arranged, my seats booked and all I had to do was clear the house and pack some winter clothes (at the time it was over 35d.centigrade).  My misgivings about leaving my beloved Pollyanna, the sick dalmation, nearly made me cancel but I knew she had had a good life and that she would be well cared for

On New 'Years Eve 2004 I left Cape Town for London ' on a completely full aircraft, staffed by the most solemn and miserable crew you could meet.   Luckily for me a young Afrikaans guy started to talk and we talked for nearly twelve hours.   We even managed to persuade the surly steward to let us have two bottles of champagne to celebrate the New Year, while all our fellow travellers snored their way in to 2005.

My favourite moment in any journey is the arrival at your destination ' usually Heathrow for me ' when I charge through the plastic curtains looking for my daughter and whichever of the children have managed to wake up at 5.00 in the morning to come to meet me.   I love that moment when you look into a sea of  faces and look and look, and suddenly hear  'Grandma' and there in front of you are these dear little  people that you love so much and who always look different every time you arrive.   And there also is your beloved daughter always clutching a wonderful armful of flowers and smiling from ear to ear.  My most special moment has arrived  Just like a scene from Love Actually!!

This time it was freezing cold and on arriving at the family home I found my son in law full of flu and about to go back to bed to try to sleep it off.   It was  lovely to see them all again, the boys so tall (even though I had seen them only three months before) and my two and some granddaughter so grown up, talking twenty to the dozen, laughing all the time and such fun.  Oh it was great to be back.

Then, reality hit me I was going to be responsible for this family of five for a month.   At sixty six I felt quite sure that I could cope ' not sure that my body agreed ' but yes, I could.  Well, let me tell you its hard work, its tiring, its frustrating, its sometimes impossible, its every nightmare you ever had times ten.   Little people are independent, they have their own agendas if they don't want to do something they don't.  If they want to shout or scream or cry or wee on the carpet, they do.   If they don't like something, they tell you, if they want something, they tell you, if they like something they also tell you.  

My granddaughter was due to start at a Montessori school for the first time my two grandsons were returning to their usual school, and I was responsible for getting them there and back.  Except that my daughter had an arrangement with a friend to lift swap so in the mornings the two boys disappeared into a Voyager full of other little boys and a wonderful dog called Lucy.   An hour later my granddaughter and I set out for her new nursery school.   And at three in the afternoon, having collected my granddaughter from her school at lunch time, we both got back in the car to collect the  boys, plus one, from their school

Sounds easy peasy.  So at about five fifteen every morning, having been awoken by the words 'I want milk' or 'Grandma read me a story' , I used to trudge downstairs to get some milk, or to make some coffee and read a story after feeding the cat and clearing up whatever had been left in the kitchen sink the night before.  Then one by one the family emerged from their cocoons usually my daughter was first, always in need of a very strong coffee and a dose of early morning TV.   And so the family awoke and prepared for their day ahead.   Breakfast was a battle every day one wanted an egg, one wanted cereal one didn't want anything and so on and so on.   Bath time followed which was also a hit and miss affair depending on what mood they were in.   Little  boys, I discovered, having been one of three girls, and untutored in the lavatorial habits of these little creatures, are very basic.   If they want to go to the loo they do, regardless of who is there.  Flushing a loo is something far removed from their little worlds and never occurs to them.   Long discussions about willies and boobies and other unmentionables were par for the course.

Having persuaded them all to put on their uniforms, assemble their homework bags, PE kit and endless other bits and pieces I would hasten in to the kitchen to prepare three lunch boxes.   I had thought of doing it the night before but after two glasses of wine and a long doze in front of the TV there was no energy left to think up interesting little packages for three little people and sometimes Mum and Dad took sandwiches to their offices..  How I racked my brains to think of fillers for these boxes cold sausages, cheese,  cucumber, yoghourt, kit-kat, grapes, strawberries and the occasional sandwich were favourite.   Always accompanied by a bottled drink, a serviette and a plastic spoon.   

 Scotch eggs sometimes, chocolate spread sandwiches maybe but straightforward sandwiches, an apple and a drink were non starters.   And when the boxes came back in the afternoon you were faced with an assortment of left-overs which made you wonder why you had bothered.   So twice a week, at least, out came the pound coins and a few bits of silver , the money belts and the bliss of knowing they could choose their own lunch and have school meals!!

The school run was something else endless streams of cars trying to park in narrow roads with no parking facilities.  Then the rush to the school and the wait in the playground while first one and then the other grandson is admitted to his classroom.   Why do parents look so miserable ' I thought it was fun watching the children playing in the playground ' rushing around filling every moment before the bell sounded.  And then, one huge rush for the classrooms ' how satisfying that must be for the teachers ' all these happy, keen students ready for another days work.    And then, of course, my granddaughter and her ever active bladder needed a loo.   So, into the school, dash into the teacher's loo and then a quick dash back home to get her ready for her school.

I revelled in the pleasure my granddaughter derived from going to her school.  That wonderful organisation, the polite hand shaking at the commencement and finish of her day the kind, considerate attitude of  the  teachers and the obvious enjoyment and fulfilment provided by them to their little charges made me so grateful that she was able to participate in such an experience.  And she loved every moment. Under three years old, one of the youngest pupils, she would enter  happily each day, keen to take part in whatever activity was on offer, then  when collected rush up excitedly, calling Grandma, Grandma, smiling all over her face, full of tales of what she had done that morning.   A little piece of blotting paper, absorbing all life's new experiences with such obvious joy.

Some days we would go shopping together ' NOT TESCOES AGAIN GRANDMA ' was one of her favourite expressions ' followed by 'it's ridiculous' ' her newest words which she learned when I was caught in a traffic jam caused by yet another skip being loaded in the centre of a very narrow road and blocking the road for almost 30 minutes.  My comment of 'its ridiculous' was her favourite expression.   Luckily the more colourful words which had accompanied that comment were lost on her young ears and not repeated.

But some days she was horrible so naughty, so rude, so unrecognisable that I began to wonder if I had two granddaughters.   She would  go from being a really good fun companion, anxious to learn how to cook, to paint, to dust or polish, into being a little monster who emptied her bladder on the kitchen or hall floor and then stamped in the ensuing puddle, or drew pictures all over her brother's best books, or tore up their pictures or spat at you, or tipped her dinner upside down on the table yes the same little girl (I think)- in fact I am sure because the huge cuddle and giggle that often followed her good or bad behaviour were typical her.

The boys were no different angelic at times, great fun most of the time and horrors anonymous for some of the time.   What happens to children??   Where does their reason go what do you do.   I shouted, I yelled, I threatened, I bribed, I gave up but I never found the solution.   Just when I was about to threaten to go back to Cape Town, one or other of them would come up and say I love you Grandma.   And I was lost.  Mind you, if I told them off  too often they would say  ?go back to

Cape Town Grandma now!!  That hurt!

During my first few days I developed bronchitis which I hadn't had since the 1980.s ' it was hell ' luckily my GP came to the rescue with some antibiotics and I coughed my way through the days for nearly two weeks until it suddenly went away.   My poor family needed cotton wool in their ears all the time.

The day after I arrived the family's most wonderful neighbour and friend offered to take me and the boys to her golf club for a session in the practice stalls.   We had bought our oldest grandson a set of golf clubs for his birthday in February ' but had given them to him when I arrived ' so both of them now had their own clubs and bags.   They were so keen, and so good its incredible how youngsters learn so quickly.   And their aim was pretty good and their distance.   100 balls each and they were ready for breakfast in the club house.   It was a real pleasure to take them out and to see such sheer enjoyment.  Our friend, who sees far more of them than we do, is a gem.   She and her husband and son are always there for the family.   No emergency is too great for them.   The only problem they encounter is the family cat because of an allergy to cats this can sometimes cause trouble.

And so the weeks flew by I met family friends, neighbours, teachers, my friends and soon it was almost time to go home.   I knew it was going to be difficult.   During the four weeks I had been on the go the whole time apart from looking after the family I had bought up virtually all the bargains in the M & S sale, as well as a few others.   I had drunk endless cups of wonderful hot chocolate and eaten scrummy pastries in some super coffee bars and I had eaten cod a fish we don't have in Africa and my favourite by far. 

My son in law, now happily settled in to his new job, had been great every evening ' taking over the kitchen and clearing up all the mess we had made ' after plying my daughter and I with endless glasses of wine.   He had 'jobs' around the house which saved me the horrors of emptying the cat litter box, filling up the dustbin, cleaning the shoes and it was great.   The household runs in a chaotic, untidy, homely, loving, crazy way its one of those homes you just enjoy being in.   The ironing pile is of award winning proportions try and grow a bigger one!!  The numbers of time the poor washing machine is filled per day is incalculable and the tumble dryer is a champion.

I have to confess I didn't use the vacuum cleaner as often as I normally do, and I didn't dust and tidy up as much as I should, but I did change the water in the endless bowls of  flowers and I did sit down and read books to the children, and help them bake cakes and make things ' so perhaps I did ok' 

So why have I written this mammoth account of a period of time in the life of a Grandma well, because I wanted to, I wanted to tell all you grandparents out there what a wonderful job we have ' what pleasure and fun grandchildren can be ' what absolute heart breakers they are ' what impossible little people they are ' but what would we do without them??   But you know that already, don't you.     I guess I am saying THANKYOU to my daughter and son in law for a life full of love and caring and concern, not just for their little unit but for all their friends and the people they meet.   Thank you for just being you and for letting us be part of your life.

I would never have believed that life could begin again at sixty six but it can.   I have a use, I am needed, I really am someone ' not the invisible grey blob that the rest of the world treat me as ' I am Grandma and its great.

And so I flew back to Cape Town, leaving a howling grand daughter, a tearful daughter and two solemn little boys at the airport.   But when I flew into Cape Town International it was 'Love Actually' all over again as  I came through the plastic curtains -  yes, there he was, Grandad ' a huge bunch of roses and an even bigger smile ' so you see, you are needed for yourself after all!!