Why did I write this book? I wanted to describe how children of various ages think and feel. What better opportunity could I have had than to be able to communicate with my thirteen grandchildren. My wife, Britta, and I are fortunate to have six of them living in the same community as us. These grandchildren: I get to see them often. We go on overnight hikes and work out together Sunday mornings. Four of our grandchildren live six hundred miles away in Indianapolis. We only see them three times a year. Once a year we rent a cottage together somewhere on the beach. Three others live in Jerusalem. We see them once a year. Whenever we visit we all go to a resort together for a few days. I do speak with all my grandchildren on the phone at least once a month; although only some are old enough to carry on a little meaningful conversation. Some adults have the mistaken belief that children are just little adults and that they think like adults do. A motivation for this book was to test the hypothesis was true. As you might hypothesize this proofed not to be true. A major part of this book represents an interview with each of my grandchildren dealing with various aspects of the childrens lives. This I believe has been the case. Furthermore, I included my diaries of two trips my wife and I took with some of my grandchildren: one with my oldest grandson to the Grand Canyon, and the other site seeing to Washington, D.C. with three of the grandchildren. These diaries contain different responses made by the children after different experiences. Lastly I included a section called Gems which represents truly precious comments different children had made. This three pronged presentation,, the question and answer portion, the gems, the diaries of trips we made together, should provide insight into the thinking of children in general, or at least my grandchildren. What is reasonable to conclude from this book about my thirteen grandchildren? All children are different is once again confirmed. This, of course, everyone knows but sometimes forgets. Therefore generalizations were difficult but individual characteristics were worthy to mention. Some features that were clearly demonstrated are: honest stating of views, a sense of humor, social consciousness and a sense of responsibility. In writing this book two conclusions come to mind with firm conviction. One is that childrens views are worthy of adult attention and it can be great fun for a grandfather to interact with his grandchildren.
