The perks of being a Nonno while a cross-cultural friendship blooms

Watching children who don’t speak the same language interact can be both inspiring and instructive. This week, Dan, Sandra, Clara, and Juniper joined us in our Montecarlo home for four days during their fall break. Our ten-year-old granddaughter, Juniper, spent hours playing happily with Diletta, the youngest daughter of our nearest neighbors, who will also turn ten in just a few weeks.

Juniper tells me how to play Among Us,
something it seems Diletta already knew.

The relationship between these two ragazzine started about a year ago and has grown progressively stronger with each of Juniper's visits to Italy—about a half-dozen times now. Early on, I was frequently recruited as an interpreter, but as the girls’ bond has grown, my services have become less essential. While I spent two or three hours playing with them last spring, this summer and fall they played seamlessly for hours without me. They bypassed verbal language entirely, relying instead on shared rules, universal symbols, and emotional intuition.

Sharing pizza together at La Favola Mia in Chiesina Uzzanese.

When we did play together, our lineup included Uno, Skip-Bo, Among Us, and hide-and-seek (nascondino). I even created a treasure hunt for them throughout our home, where they had to follow hidden written clues. By alternating the clues between English and Italian, they were forced to depend on each other to find the prize: two Hostess cupcakes.

Walking together after dinner.

Over time, the girls advanced well beyond the need for a translator, and now they rarely ask for my help. That suits me just fine, since I would have a hard time playing with "squishies" (their favorite stuffed animals), and I am admittedly clueless about how Roblox works. Yet, they happily managed to play it on their iPads for at least an hour. I learned that Roblox isn't just one game, but a platform where they can control their own customizable digital avatars and see each other moving around in real-time. Together, they can jump into an endless variety of virtual worlds—whether they are adopting digital pets, running a virtual pizza parlor, or navigating obstacle courses. Because the visual controls are so intuitive, the language barrier completely vanished on the screen.

Pretty much anytime "Junie" and "Dile" got together, they didn't want to stop. Last night, we had to interrupt their play to head out to dinner. As we were about to leave, Dan invited Diletta to accompany us, and her parents graciously gave permission. It gave us all a wonderful chance to get to know her better. Walking home after the meal, the two girls walked with their arms around each other, happily singing lines from popular songs.

I surmise that one of the reasons they play so well together is that Juniper has attended international schools for much of her life. She is entirely accustomed to meeting new kids, including those who don't speak English well or at all. Like her mom, she is also a take-charge sort of person who naturally takes the initiative in suggesting what to do next. Diletta, for her part, is remarkably cooperative and quick to learn. She does her absolute best to understand Juniper, and she isn't afraid to ask me to step in and interpret only when she truly needs the help.

It has been an absolute pleasure to have a front-row seat to this developing relationship. And truthfully, I also kind of enjoyed being included in some of the games. It’s easily one of the best perks of being a grandfather.