Grandparenting: RENEW, RELIVE, REJOICE is a simple, user-friendly guide to being more present in the moments you have with your grandchildren. It suggests practical, actionable activities to help you fully enjoy the time you have together. Students of mindfulness will be familiar with many of the techniques, but even mindfulness masters will appreciate the suggestions for sharing those techniques with your grandchildren. 

The suggestions in early chapters seemed like common sense to me, but later chapters had activities that I look forward to trying with my grandchildren. I especially loved the section on listening, an area where we can all use some improvement! Generously interspersed with the mindfulness suggestions are charming anecdotes from grandparents. If you love reading stories that make you go, “Aww”, you will enjoy this book for the stories alone.

If you are a grandparent who has been curious about mindfulness, this book would be a great place to start. It’s probably most helpful to grandparents who see their grandchildren often and regularly, though some of the ideas would work during infrequent visits, as well.

Ready to be a more mindful grandparent? Order it today!

If you’ve read it, please share your thoughts about the book in the comments!

When Donne Davis became a grandmother, she gathered a circle of women who were as “gaga” over their grandbabies as she was. They named themselves the GaGa Sisterhood, and became an important source of support for one another as they navigated their new role. Over the years, she has shared the collective wisdom of the GaGa Sisterhood on her website and blog, and in a small but mighty book called “When Being a Grandma isn’t So Grand”.

Davis’ book is a quick read, but offers a valuable lesson for all grandparents about prioritizing the relationship with your grandchild's parents. Although it is aimed at grandmothers, the insight it offers will be just as beneficial for grandfathers. Davis interviewed 50 mothers to better understand what they needed—and didn’t need—from grandparents. She shares her discoveries in a few short chapters, often in the moms’ own words. Her clear and engaging writing will give the reader a better understanding of how to support parents and avoid some of the pitfalls that can sour a relationship.

“When Being a Grandma isn’t So Grand” is a great companion to New Grandparents 101, and a worthwhile addition to any grandparent’s library. Click here to order a copy from Amazon.

More Inspirational Books for Grandparents

Over a period of five years, Dennis Kimbro contacted one thousand grandmothers--women from a wide range of backgrounds and locations--asking, "If you had to write a one page letter to your children or the next generation, what would you tell them about life?" ~From the publisher

At the very least, Kimbro’s collection of letters from Black grandmothers will captivate you. The lessons these women want to share with their grandchildren, the wisdom they have gathered through their struggles and triumphs, the love and support they offer through the words they write—all prove the importance of grandparents in a child’s life.  At the very best, you’ll be motivated to write a letter to your own grandchildren. The inspirational letters in Kimbro’s book show the value of putting your heart on paper. Order a copy today.

​Author Richard Eyre give us a handbook for every grandfather.

Looking for books for a new grandmother to help her embrace her new role? There are several great choices. Looking for books for a new grandfather? Not so easy! So far, I’ve only found one: Being a Proactive Grandfather by Richard Eyre.

Luckily, it’s all any grandfather really needs. Eyre, as a grandfather to roughly 30 grandchildren, has enough experience to know what works. He shares his creative and practical ideas in a way that makes you wish you could get started right away. While some of his methods will be difficult for long-distance grandfathers or those who are still actively working, the concepts behind them will inspire every grandfather who is committed to a real relationship with their grandchildren.

Eyre sums it up here:
"Passive grandfathering—just paying a little attention once in a while or trying to lend a bit of financial support as needed—is not much fun. The thing that often holds us back from greater involvement with our grandkids is that, in some ways, they lie a bit outside our comfort zones. We don’t know exactly what they need or how to go about Proactive Grandfathering."

Being a Proactive Grandfather is an excellent guide for those grandfathers who don’t know how to get outside their comfort zone, or for those who want more ideas to help shape their role as Grandpa. This one is worth buying for every grandfather!

If you pick up Camp Grandma expecting a book to help you plan a week of fun activities for your grandchildren, you may find it lacking. If you pick it up looking for ways to deepen your relationship with your grandchildren, pass along your gifts and values, or help them become successful adults, you won’t be disappointed.

Marianne Waggoner Day approaches time with her grandchildren as a retired corporate executive. The lessons she takes from her time in the business world are among the values she wants to pass along to her four grandchildren. She established Camp Grandma to “establish a structure where my four grandkids could come together and through shared experiences truly learn about each other and maybe more about themselves.”

She compares Camp Grandma to a corporate retreat for kids, where they learn about setting agendas and goals, giving presentations, and teamwork. And while she outlines the activities she does with her grandkids, she emphasizes that the book is not meant to be a blueprint for others. Instead, she hopes readers will find the inspiration to pass our own talents to our grandchildren.

This book will be most useful for grandparents who are lucky enough to care for their grandchildren on a regular basis, or who can carve out dedicated time with them during the summer. However, the ideas are valuable for all grandparents, and I recommend you get a copy today!

Have you read Camp Grandma? What did you think?

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"[Grandmother and I] approached every day together as an adventure, filled with the simple joys and discoveries that are fresh and new to a child and that can also make a grandmother feel fresh and new again.” Sharon Lovejoy, Camp Granny
​
If you want to impart a sense of wonder in your grandchildren, this book is a must. Building on the legacy of her own grandmother, Lovejoy provides simple, inexpensive ideas for tapping into your grandchild’s curiosity and creativity. From setting up your home before your grandchildren come to visit to making bean soup into a lesson in growing, she will guide you through adventures that you’ll enjoy as much as your grandchildren will. The book itself is beautiful and well-written. Put Camp Granny on your wish list, or treat yourself to it today. Just make sure you read it before your grandchildren’s next visit!

​When Lesley Stahl became a grandmother, she was stunned by the way it affected her emotionally. Ever the reporter, she set about to find out whether her experience was the norm. Becoming Grandma is the engaging, informative result of her research. As she shares stories of her transformation into Grandma, she explores the ways grandparents can play an important role in their grandchildren’s lives. Stahl offers insight into the complexities of a being a grandparent in today’s world, where a child may have four sets of grandparents and parents are inundated with parenting advice from the internet. This well-researched book is well worth reading--buy a copy and lend it out to your grandmother friends. 

​Have you read this book? What did you think?

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Do you remember playing outside as a child? I spent hours upon hours playing in the woods: making elaborate houses with fallen branches, shaping dishes out of the clay we found in the soil, decorating with flowers and leaves. I remember climbing trees so high I got dizzy and had to be coached back down. There were games of hide and seek in the tall grass of an empty lot across the street, and in the winter, elaborate snow forts and all-neighborhood snowball fights.

Children need nature. And not just seeing it, but experiencing it: the feel of grass under their feet, the sound of the birds in the woods, the smell of wet dirt. Studies have shown that children who play regularly in natural environments exhibit more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they are sick less often*. But for too many children, time playing in nature is a rare treat.

So how can we, as grandparents, help?

Make your yard a place for exploration.

Provide them with natural elements for creative play: sticks and stones and leaves and dirt and water. Keep a place for them to dig for worms. Let them make forts in your bushes and move the rocks in your border. Let them climb your trees and hang from the branches. Let them lie on the grass and watch the bugs. Let them go barefoot and let them get dirty.

It can be that easy. But if you want more ideas for making your backyard into a child-friendly play space, I highly recommend Molly Dannenmaier’s book, A Child’s Garden. She provides dozens of ideas and inspiration for creating natural play areas that fit into adult gardens.

For more about the crucial role nature plays for all of us, read The Nature Fix by Florence Williams.

No backyard? No problem. I’ll share ideas for connecting children to nature in my next post.

*Grahn, et al. 1997, Fjortoft & Sageie 2001

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