Over the past year, I’ve heard from many of you that a healthy relationship with your children and your grandchildren isn’t part of your current story. I realize that some hurts and situations make it difficult to move forward, but moving forward is all you can do. Meeting needs and loving well will improve your family’s health. Sometimes getting to a healthier place in relationships means tackling things from many different angles to find something that might work. Doing this is like removing a piece of tape–you pick all around the edges until you can work a little piece loose. Then you can g ..read more

I started my grandparenting journey living near my grandkids. After transfers and out of state moves, I found myself living and working in an area that no longer had any grandkids nearby. I became a long-distance grandma. After almost six months living nearby, my oldest grandson moved out of state. My second grandchild was born two years later. Her parents lived in our town for the next eight years before they moved out of state. My daughter already lived out of state when she began her family. My children went on to enlarge their families and now I have eleven grandkids, none of whom live nea ..read more

We really enjoy hosting my grandkids in my home. I enjoy the process of getting ready for them and planning and executing a memorable event. When they go home, my husband and I look at each other and enjoy the quiet moment of satisfaction with a job well done. The food tasted good. The house was inviting. Our grandkids had a good time. We’ve gotten the clean-up process started. Now, we can take a moment and reflect on a job well done. Over the years, we’ve discovered that preparation is the key to successfully entertaining grandkids. Entertaining our grandkids sometimes leaves us exhausted. We ..read more

We really enjoy hosting my grandkids in my home. I enjoy the process of getting ready for them and planning and executing a memorable event. When they go home, my husband and I look at each other and enjoy the quiet moment of satisfaction with a job well done. The food tasted good. The house was inviting. Our grandkids had a good time. We’ve gotten the clean-up process started. Now, we can take a moment and reflect on a job well done. Over the years, we’ve discovered that preparation is the key to successfully entertaining grandkids. Entertaining our grandkids sometimes leaves us exhausted. We ..read more

I started my grandparenting journey living near my grandkids. After transfers and out of state moves, I found myself living and working in an area that no longer had any grandkids nearby. I became a long-distance grandma. After almost six months living nearby, my oldest grandson moved out of state. My second grandchild was born two years later. Her parents lived in our town for the next eight years before they moved out of state. My daughter already lived out of state when she began her family. My children went on to enlarge their families and now I have eleven grandkids, none of whom live nea ..read more

My mom told me a story a couple of years about the best thing that had happened to her. I was expecting her to tell me about bidding and making slam at her weekly bridge game. I thought she might mention having lunch with a friend. Nope. She told me her grandson had called. Cole phoned to let her know that she was going to be a great-grandma. Now this wasn’t her first great-grandchild. But it was the first time she got a personal phone call announcing the news. That was when I realized how important it is to make communication with grandchildren a top priority. Good communication brings great ..read more

Over the past year, I’ve heard from many of you that a healthy relationship with your children and your grandchildren isn’t part of your current story. I realize that some hurts and situations make it difficult to move forward, but moving forward is all you can do. Meeting needs and loving well will improve your family’s health. Sometimes getting to a healthier place in relationships means tackling things from many different angles to find something that might work. Doing this is like removing a piece of tape–you pick all around the edges until you can work a little piece loose. Then you can g ..read more

We use goals to deepen our relationship with our grandkids. We are long-distant grandparents. Our grandkids live in three different states. Currently, we spend three to four months living in our camper in the states where our grandkids live. When we are with our grandkids, we want to be fun to be with during the time we are nearby. We go to sports events, school activities, or other local community events. We celebrate whatever holidays or birthdays are happening during the months we are in the area. Sometimes we just hang out. During the first year, we were on the road, we focused on the gran ..read more

Baby boomers are a large group of grandparents. Statistically, there are about to million of us in the United States alone, and the number continue to grow. We all have one thing in common–we have at least one grandchild. But the similarities end there. Some grandparents are active in the grandparent role, others are passive. None of us have unlimited resources, and the amount of our resources vary. Some grandparents live hundreds of miles away while some are raising their grandchild in their own home. The mistake is to compare yourself to the other grandparents around you. Even worse, is to t ..read more

Baby boomers are a large group of grandparents. Statistically, there are about to million of us in the United States alone, and the number continue to grow. We all have one thing in common–we have at least one grandchild. But the similarities end there. Some grandparents are active in the grandparent role, others are passive. None of us have unlimited resources, and the amount of our resources vary. Some grandparents live hundreds of miles away while some are raising their grandchild in their own home. The mistake is to compare yourself to the other grandparents around you. Even worse, is to t ..read more