All Grandparenting Articles

I am a grandmother, though I did not become one in the conventional way. Then again, nothing in my life has turned out as planned, so how else would I enter my golden years but by being shot out of a cannon? About a year and a half ago, my son told me he'd met a woman at work, a pretty widow with five children. I immediately launched into my best arguments against the relationship. You Read more...

You're over 50. You've raised your children. You're retired. Now you've earned the right to travel, relax or just do what you want to do. These days, however, that "whatever you want to do" usually includes grandchildren. With these struggling economic times, it is becoming more common than not for both parents of young children to hold down full-time jobs in order to make ends Read more...

Sebastian Rivera wasn't sure he wanted Dad to leave him at preschool. "I want my mama," he said. After all, it was just his second week of school and it all seemed so new. "I want my dad." No worries, though. On this special day, Nonni and Nonno were there to comfort him. "How about Nonni?" Angela Molini of Stockton asked 3-year-old Sebastian as she gave Read more...

In Andrea Hull's day, girls weren't really expected to go to college. But all that's changed. And Hull, now 62, is busy catching up. On Monday, the Hermosa Beach, Calif., woman began her first day of classes as a psychology major at California State University, Long Beach. Among her classmates? Hull's granddaughter, freshman Alexis Walters, 18, also a Hermosa Beach resident and a Read more...

One of the real treats of being a grandpa is reading books with my grandkids. It's a special time when the noise and hyperactivity of our high-tech world is temporarily suspended. Books open up new worlds for them, worlds in which they play an active role. For me it's a chance to see old and familiar things again through the eyes of my grandkids. So often it seems that things that are fun are Read more...

While friends are planning for retirement, Stella Kessler is managing appointments for her special-needs grandson. She is raising the 16-year-old by herself, balancing doctors' visits with her own business meetings. "You do what you have to do," says Kessler, 64, a senior sales director with Mary Kay. "The energy is not like I had before, but I'm not a slacker either. I can get Read more...

They don't know the difference between Tweeting and texting. But a growing number of Tucson, Ariz., grandparents now raising their grandchildren are trying to get up to speed with modern adolescence and the technology that dominates this generation. As if the challenge of parenting for a second time isn't sufficiently daunting, the grandparents have to monitor online chats, social networks Read more...

Offering their time and a little bit of themselves to the youngest generation is the idea behind a foster grandparent program that includes Garvin County, Okla. Seniors 60 and older have for some time been volunteering to help young school children in elementary schools and Head Start programs, in addition to mentoring kids with special or exceptional needs. In exchange they receive far Read more...

WILKES-BARRE, Penn. -- At age 56, Pittston resident Debbie Destefano is raising children again -- her three grandchildren, Evan, 13, Haley, 6, and Samuel, 1. Ms. Destefano, who works fulltime for Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, joined about 250 people who attended the Northeastern Pennsylvania Intergenerational Coalition's third annual conference for grandparents raising their Read more...

An elderly Gainesville, Texas, woman received a call from someone who said he was her grandson in trouble. He said he needed a little cash. The woman sent the caller a check, and by the time she realized the call was a sham, her money was long gone. The Gainesville grandmother apparently fell victim to a widespread scamming technique known as the "Grandparent scam." The Read more...

Grandparents could be given the right to take "granny leave" from work in the U.K. under radical plans. A government report says there is growing demand to support grandparents who help out with childcare. That could include the right to take two weeks off work when a grandchild is born. The U.K.'s Children's Minister Beverley Hughes is launching the proposals in the House of Read more...

HAMILTON, N.J. - When your 88-year-old grandfather sends a request to be your "friend" on Facebook, you have two choices: Either confirm it, then quickly take down all those party pictures you thought were so funny, or plan on never coming home for the holidays. As someone who lists pinot grigio as a hobby, I was seriously concerned about my grandfather joining Facebook. Read more...

QUESTION: My granddaughter is now 6 months old and I still can't decide what she should call me. I am 63, at the height of my career and attractive (I am told). Grandma or grandmother just doesn't seem to fit. Am I obsessing or is this a real issue? ANSWER: You have hit on a real issue. Boomers are starting a semantic revolution to avoid senior citizen status. They love their grandkids but Read more...

CHICAGO -- Grandmothers had played a far more critical evolutionary role than we thought in the living populations, anthropologists said on Friday in the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). "By living longer and having more offspring," said Rachael Caspari, a research scientist at the University of Michigan." Older people allow Read more...

Since 1970, the number of grandparents acting as primary caregivers for their grandchildren has doubled. Now the question has been raised: Is that good or bad for a grandparent's health? Precautionary health measures such as mammograms and cholesterol tests that identify the risk of heart disease are critical for the well-being of women over 50. Add the responsibility of providing sustained Read more...

For working parents, having grandparents as caregivers can cut the risk of childhood injury roughly in half, according to a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Compared to organized daycare or care by the mother or other relatives, having a grandmother watch a child was associated with a decreased risk of injury for the child. The study is among the Read more...

Super Gran isn't just a fictional character from a children's book. These days 21st century Super Grans are alive and kicking - and wielding their magical powers across the country. Post-war baby-boomers are light years away from their predecessors and have become a tour de force of their own. Today's grandparents are active and youthful. Socializing comes easy and they're in tune with their Read more...

Sal Greco says he is his five grandchildren's "big toy." Greco, of Hampton, loves to play and do things with his grandkids: Max. 8; Sam, 6; Alex, 5; Zoe, 3; and Nico, 1 1/2. Greco, an artist, often paints in his studio with some of his grandkids, and sometimes takes them to the tennis courts with him. He takes some of the kids miniature-golfing, and just plays silly, everyday games Read more...

Knowing she isn't alone keeps Debra Hayes encouraged as she raises her grandchild, a role more and more grandparents are taking on despite putting off retirement and having to take care of their own health issues. "It was tough when she was first placed with us," she said. "Now we don't know what we would do without her." Hayes and her granddaughter, Read more...