Grandpa, Grandma, "Grand Tour" Growing in Japan

Not that dads and moms are unwelcome, it's a new approach to childrearing - for grandpas and grandmas taking grandsons and granddaughters out for short tours. It's called "Grand Tour" and quite a vogue right now in Japan.

A Japanese saying goes "a grandchild won't hurt even he/she should walk on my eyeball". It could mean grandpas and grandmas tend to spoil the little ones, but it also means that they could counterbalance the parents' often rigorous attitudes to their children.

Experts say "grand tours" are beneficial for both - grandparents having a good time with the little ones teaching them what to do and what not to do while the little ones inheriting traditions their parents know little of. Data show grandpas are more anxious for such trips to make up for their active days with less time with their grandchildren.

Kazuko Murata, a travel journalist and mother to a child of her own, believes such grand tours should best start as soon as the little ones have learned to communicate and finished toilet training i.e. at age 4-5.

She says to Nikkei Shimbun the key to a successful grand tour is for the parents to limit their involvement to just reminding only the basics such as health and safety and leave the details to the discretion of the grandparents. "By the basics I mean Maternity Health Book, Health Insurance and such essential data", adds Murata.

According to Nikkei, there are in fact a chain of resorts marketing such grand tours. Hashing Resort has five such facilities across the nation staffed with concierges to receive grand tourists and prepare ahead of time certain facilities accessible for children of different ages.

Cruising grand tours are also available. Foreign boats offer kids' clubs with a variety of programs for children to kill time while their grandpas and grandmas rest their bones....

Surely a cool way to build a bondage between the elder and the young three generations apart.