Stories by Grumps Writing Tips
Feel Free to take any of the Grumps stories---concept, characters, locations, etc. ---and adapt them to your grandkids stories!
When possible include the (grandkids) listeners in the story.
Be sure to ask their parents what they are focused on which could be anything from dinosaurs and sled dogs to their new playhouse or focus on activities---hiking, baseball, dance classes or gymnastics, etc.
When possible make them the hero or the central characters.
Although kids may not complain if a story is a bit long (i.e., a way for them to dodge going to bed or sleep) keep ‘um reasonably short---within their attention limits.
If they or you have a pet, try to drop them into the story.
If they have a doll or little stuffed animals they drag around, feature them. Jack and Julia have twin stuffed puppies called the Mulligan’s---one story featured the day that Jeffery, a stuffed monkey of Jack’s got jealous of the stuffed pups, wrecked the house, and then blamed the Mulligan’s.
Have a moral in the story---work in the importance of being good, respectful, honest, loving to their friends and family. Drop-in a bad guy like Gimmie Jimmy, one of Santa’s greedy elves.
Tell stories about your childhood. They want to know what Grumps and grandma, Boppy were like, what they did as kids. Drop-in a character like Brian Benedict, who tricked Grumps and his fellow Cub Scouts and their fathers into what they thought was a Charity Turkey Shoot that turned out to be a Shirkey Toot---a farting contest.
Use national holidays as a stage for the stories---Christmas, the North Pole, with Santa and his (sometimes) imperfect elves is the perfect focus for numerous stories.
Have your Jack and Julia grandkids dreaming. It opens up the potential for anything you’d like to tell. When Jack and Julia wake up they get together and decide that maybe Jeffery the toy monkey really didn’t wreck their house and blame it on the Mulligan’s, their stuffed toy pups.
Be creative, make the stories end in a laugh, or some heroics, or perhaps a mystery that the kids solve, or something self-deprecating that Grumps did as a little boy that sends them off to dreamland with a smile.