Grandpa and Me Lyrics
Grandpa comes to visit, tall and dignified and knowing nearly everything. A boy decides boys must be the one thing grandpa never studied. Then comes a twinkle at the dinner table, and when the grown-ups go out, the two of them romp and run.
Grandpa and Me
My grandpa says that he was once
A little boy like me.
I s'pose he was, and yet it does
Seem queer to think that he
Could ever get my jacket on,
Or shoes, or like to play
With games and toys and race with Duke,
As I do every day.
He's come to visit us, you see;
Nurse says I must be good
And mind my manners, as a child
With such a grandpa should.
For grandpa's very straight and tall,
And very dignified;
He knows 'most all there is to know,
And other things beside.
So, though my grandpa knows so much,
I thought that maybe boys
Were things he hadn't studied,
They make such awful noise.
But when at dinner I asked for
Another piece of pie,
I thought I saw a twinkle
In the corner of his eye.
So yesterday, when they went out,
And left us two alone,
I was not quite so much surprised
To find how nice he'd grown.
You should have seen us romp and run!
My! now I almost see
That p'r'aps he was, long, long ago,
A little boy like me.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/grandpa-and-me/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Tune
- Matter-of-fact and a little solemn, then lighter and quicker in the last verse
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| I thought I saw a twinkle | Point to the corner of your eye and blink slowly. |
| You should have seen us romp and run! | Jog gently on the spot with big arm swings. |
What Does Grandpa and Me Mean?
The poem follows a boy who changes his mind. In the first two verses he lists what makes his grandpa different: he is old, straight and tall, dignified (calm and serious), and he knows nearly everything. The boy is told by the nurse, his caregiver, to mind his manners. He decides that boys are one subject his grandpa has never studied, because boys make such awful noise.
Two small moments turn it round. At dinner, when the boy asks for another piece of pie, he sees a twinkle in his grandpa's eye. A day later, left alone with him, he finds how nice he'd grown, meaning how nice grandpa turned out to be. The last lines are the discovery: p'r'aps (perhaps) grandpa was a boy once.
It is a good poem to read before a visit from grandparents, because it shows how a child's first shyness can melt in a day.
History and Origin
The poem is in an anthology of verses for small children, Songs for the Little Ones at Home, first gathered in 1884 and revised in 1911. The book credits it to a magazine, The Round Table, and gives no author. The idea that grown-ups were once children is an old comfort in verses for the young.
Learning Activities
- Then and now: ask a grandparent for a photo of themselves at the child's age and talk about the toys and clothes.
- Ask grandpa: help the child think of three questions to ask an older relative about what they played with.
- Spot the twinkle: practise making a twinkling face, and see who can make the other laugh.
- Draw a visit: draw the grandpa in the poem, tall and straight, and then the same person romping.