After 30 years of teaching, the last thing Danita McLaughlin thought was that she would spend the next few years surrounded by even more children. However, after her two daughters, Miranda and Melanie, began to have families of their own, she immediately stepped into her new role of the always-available grandmother.  “I wasn’t planning on babysitting,” Danita McLaughlin said. “That wasn’t ever in my mind after retiring.”

Now based on the day of the week, she and her husband are part of a musical chairs game of grandchildren as they go to various homes and are dropped off and picked up by a rotation of parents. 

During the pandemic, Danita said she was relieved that she could watch the grandchildren and keep them within the family pod. Her main difficulty was entertaining the younger kids with drawing and games while trying to to run a “grandma school” for the older kids who were missing in-person learning. 

“I just felt fortunate because so many of my friends couldn’t be together with their kids,” she said. 

Although some days she comes home dead tired, Danita wouldn’t trade all the extra time she gets to have with her grandchildren as they grow up. She knows they won’t always need her to change their clothes, cook them breakfast, or be able to fall asleep on her lap while she reads to them, so she cherishes every moment she has now.