Tucking each other in

It’s summertime and that means the schedule for bedtime often gets skewed.

When the grandkids arrive for a sleepover, we always ask for the hour to tuck the little ones in bed. It goes unsaid that the appointed hour to go to bed will be ignored.

This tucking, while sweet, is by no means guaranteed. The little guys have places to go and things to do that defy clockwork. Just say something about the bathroom and say no more.

Being tired at bedtime has nothing to do with it. Being with grandma does. Grandma, you see, not only reads books but sometimes actually falls asleep right there on the bed with them. So, even if I tried, I don’t know who to tuck in first.

I’m just the backup, on call just in case story time needs to go a bit longer or as fill-in while grandma changes into her sleepers. It’s not too challenging making up bedtime stories. So far, my audience is not too critical. About any old story line will do, the crazier the better, especially if delivered in a monotone that amps up a wild climax.

Our family dog, Pokey, has been gone from us for years but stories about the Golden Lab are always in demand as bedtime tales. Embellishment is not necessary; his real-to-life stories are better than most children’s books. If these Pokey “tails” keep wagging from generation to generation, we should set them down on paper.

Some of the grandkids ask for Pokey stories to be repeated that I’ve forgotten about. This amazes me, the grandkids telling me stories I’ve actually lived that they’ve only heard about. It makes me want to warn the parents of my grandchildren about how things change.

Some parents take kids for granted. They think they’ll be buying clothing from the children’s section forever, and that toys will always be a part of Christmas. That chocolate milk will always be a mainstay in the fridge, and sippy cups will always be as necessary as the silverware on the dinner table.

Parents know all the colors of each Power Ranger and most other cartoon favorites on TV and have many sing-song melodies locked into their brain.

Parents live for the quiet hour after all the kids are tucked in. Parents get tired, too, and yearn for the ability to go to bed whenever they’re tired regardless of what the clock says or if the “boogeyman” has to be shooed away again from a little one’s door. Sometimes the ritual of getting little ones tucked in makes even the most seasoned parent tuckered out.

And then it changes.

Soon these same parents will be home alone on a Friday night waiting to hear the car hit the driveway no matter what side of the curfew. Nobody will want to be tucked in. Kids grow to be independent and yearn to be about themselves despite their need for gasoline  and another hot meal. And that’s OK … even when the only “tucking in” involves a few extra dollars in their billfold.

I like to think my grown kids still need a few things from mom and dad. Even though that’s not the case as it once was, we still want them to come home whenever they can. All the runaround at bedtime with the grandkids during a sleepover helps to keep things in the right perspective.

Family is something you should not take for granted … along with tucking each other in at night.