Imagine the excitement of a grandmother receiving a “plaque” (of sorts) with photos of all her grandchildren. Now let’s raise the stakes just a tiny bit. This is what Christina Rosano did when she presented her grandma, “Nanny Tina,” with a “ranking board.” The idea is that she can rank her eight grandkids daily based on whatever whim she feels and as she sees fit.
In a reel going viral on Instagram, Rosano is seen giving her grandmother, dressed in a bright purple T-shirt and shorts set and hip blue glasses, what looks like a cutting board. On it, she has placed magnets with pictures of all of her grandchildren alongside numbers one through eight. Nanny Tina inspects the board thoroughly.
Grandchild ranking board
What’s immediately apparent is how much fun this family seems to have and how dearly Nanny Tina loves the gift. A chyron at the beginning of the clip reads, “Created a grandchild ranking board for my 97-year-old grandmother. This is her reaction.”
At first, Nanny Tina seems to think it’s merely just a collection of photos. She’s already impressed as she takes it all in. We hear Rosano explain, “This is a board. And it has photos of all of your grandchildren on it. But listen, listen. There are no in-laws on there because every day you get to move the pictures…and rank us. Who you like better that day!”
“What?” Nanny Tina exclaims with her whole chest. People in the room laugh, while Rosano explains further: “If someone doesn’t call or text you, you move them to number eight.”
‘How about that!’
Nanny Tina is extremely excited. “How about that!” she exclaims before reading aloud, “‘Nanny Tina loves her grandchildren.’” She laughs and continues, “How do you know? Where is GG? Put her at number eight. She never texts me!”
Rosano asks, “Who is number one right now?” Nanny Tina answers, “Right now, Timothy. He calls me all the time. How about that? Isn’t that wonderful? Thank you very much! You can have a cherry!”
Sensing this might be a perfect time to slip into first place, Rosano asks if she can be “number one.” Nanny Tina is very direct with her wishes. She says, “No! Don’t change Tim. Tim is number one.” She concludes by sincerely expressing how much she likes the whole process. “I like this very much. Hey, I got something to do every day.”
‘All really competitive’
Upworthy had the opportunity to ask Christina Rosano a few questions about the heartwarming “competition.” First, she shared how the board was actually built: “My brother creates the cutting boards engraved at his studio, so I came up with the idea of adding the magnets and photos because we are all really competitive and my grandmother would eat the idea up.” She later added, “The photos are placed on magnets to stick to the board, which makes it easy to move around.”
When Rosano was asked how she usually ranks in the lineup, her answer kept the fun theme going. “I have yet to be ranked number 1. Usually I sit at 3, 4, 5, depending on the day. My siblings and cousins love it and think it’s hilarious.”
The Instagram comments seem to love it as well. At nearly half a million likes, 8,000 people chimed in to say how much they adore Nanny Tina and the entire family.
‘Props for texting’
One Instagrammer pointed out how impressive it is that she’s able to text, writing, “Can we give grandma mad props for texting at 97? My mom is 20 years younger and won’t use a cell phone. Maybe I’ll give her a scoreboard…!!”
One person had an idea, sharing, “Make it extra special, add an incentive. Tell the grandchildren that, depending on where they are in the ranking, when she passes (100 years from now), it represents what they’ll get as an inheritance. Doesn’t have to be true…they can all get the same amount, but the grandkids don’t have to know it!”
Timothy loves being number one
And in perfect form, Timothy (who goes by @timojoflo on Instagram) is taking the top title very seriously. A commenter shares, “I love how Tim now has ‘Nanny’s #1’ in his bio.” (We checked, it’s true.)
