My grandparents babysat me while I was growing up. I loved spending time with them. Overall, they were much more kind, affectionate, and easygoing than my parents were. There were also more patient with me and more tolerant of my aspie quirks. They did spank me when I misbehaved, but it wasn't often and only for serious misbehaving, and I was given more leeway in the way I behaved. Their condo was the only place where my imagination could run wild, and they'd actually listed to the stories I made up. I also liked looking at the old stuff they had: a record player, a typewriter, antique furniture, etc. My favorite "toy" was a collection of little porcelain animals. I'd always rearrange them to act out scenes from my favorite cartoons. No wonder I had a meltdown every time my parents came to pick me up.
The downside was that the values they taught me were somewhat out of step with the modern society, which made me more awkward in some social situations. For instance, in bullying situations, they'd teach me to say "please stop bothering me", rather than "shut up and leave me alone". They'd also take my parents' side in disagreements, but I though it was completely normal, since adults in my life almost never took my side to begin with. Every time, I just assumed it was because they all forgot what it's like to be a child.
But all in all, my grandparents made my miserable childhood a lot more tolerable, and I'm very thankful toward them. If it wasn't for being able to visit them once or twice a week, I probably wouldn't be on here posting, since I'd probably either jump off a bridge (the town I lived in at the time had a shallow river with a rocky bottom), or go insane from the misery and get confined to a children's mental hospital with abusive medical workers.