Beginning in 1985, I was blessed with a grandchild every year for five years. How honoured I felt!
Birthdays come around every year and there’s always a decision about what one can give as a memorable gift. When my first grandson turned four, I decided to share my ‘gift’ of writing and asked him what he would like as a story topic. ‘A holiday at the sea with friends, a dog and a surfboard’ came the answer and this granny’s imaginative cogs clicked into gear.
I wove reality with imagination and he loved his story. His cousin, one year younger, requested one too. This motivated my decision to write each grandchild a birthday story from the age of four until they turn ten. And what fun I have had, and am having, in writing their birthday stories!
About two months before an impending birthday, I ask the grandchild in question what they would like their story to be about. They give me their choice, which often results in my having to research things I’ve never heard of before!
Some topics they have requested include:
- Ninjas (a karate journey to Japan with a trip on a bullet train)
- My dolphin trip to Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique
- Submersibles (sparked by the explosion of the one that went to explore the Titanic. This involved a journey to the wreck in a magically minimising submersible.)
- Sasquatch (Did you know there is an imaginary one living in Tsitsikamma?)
- The world’s smallest Ferrari found at the Grand Prix track in Australia
- Unicorns
- Ballet
- Kirby from the Game Boy Nintendo game
- Squishmallows (these endangered salamanders have evolved into popular soft and squishy toys. I was given one from my granddaughters for my birthday this year)
- Mermaids
- Minecraft (which took us inside the blockworld computer game)
- Pokémon’s world of magically evolving creatures.
Topics that are new to me lead to fun research journeys to imaginary spaces where my grandchildren spend time. This has also given me interesting insights into their minds and interests. I’ll always remember Dr Phil McGraw saying that if you are not discovering what is in the minds of your children, you mustn’t be surprised to learn that they are involved in things you wish they weren’t.
This year, my youngest grandchild, Ethan, who turned five, gave me a challenging topic. He wanted his story to be about ‘A puppy, a dinosaur and a Noddy bike’. ‘A Noddy bike?’ you may well ask. Now no one, apart from Ethan, knows why he calls motorbikes with boxes, like the Sixty60 delivery bikes, ‘Noddy bikes’. But he does.
I began to plan how I could weave his request into an intriguing story. The result: a sweet tale about a lost puppy and a time-travelling baby dinosaur left behind in Ethan’s world. I so enjoy the challenges they set me!
Ezra, my eldest grandchild, has just turned ten and requested the Ferrari story. My rationale in stopping their stories at the age of ten is that ‘by ten, you should be reading and writing your own stories’. Their parents, my son and daughter and their spouses, have read to the children and encouraged a love of reading since they were babies. The children are now keen readers and listeners. Ezra is currently reading CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and this bears out my decision. He agrees with me, although his nine-year-old cousin thinks I should keep writing until they turn 18!
Two of my granddaughters live in the Western Cape and the beauty of the internet is that they can receive their stories electronically. When I can’t be with them, that’s how I send them. But I always follow up with a printed, colour copy, populated with appropriate pictures. It has reached the point where the assistant at the photocopy shop where I have them printed and bound is intrigued to see what is next.
I am both a freelance writer and an editor. It is my firm belief that being a writer makes me a better editor and vice versa. It certainly makes me critical of my writing and demanding of myself, which helps me in my professional work.
With the advent of AI and ChatGPT, I am using the tools they provide. This year, once I’d completed a story, I ran it through ChatGPT and asked that it enhance my story for the age of the grandchild in question. This resulted in some helpful changes, but the enhanced version always needs more editing.
By the time all five grandchildren turn ten, I will have written 35 stories. It’ll be a sad day when I stop and perhaps I should try to publish the collection one day. These birthday stories have meant an enjoyable journey into my own imagination and I feel privileged to have a talent that brings joy to these dear hearts.
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