Grandparents Raising Kids Are Adapting to Digital Age

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 and numerous gizmos and gadgets. The digital age means the generation gap between today's kids and many of their custodial grandparents is wider than ever.

Mary Melissa Brooks says it's as if her life's script has been flipped.

"I was single . . . traveling, doing my thing," she says of life before she took over the rearing of her granddaughters seven years ago. "My life changed (as) different as night and day."

Brooks, 56, says it took more than three years to get her granddaughters -- now ages 9 and 7 -- to the point where they were stable and healthy after being separated from their mother.

Now her biggest challenge is preparing for her oldest granddaughter's puberty, and that includes getting familiar with the tech world.

"I don't do all of that because I'm not computer-literate," she says. "There was a friend that instructed me how to get pictures from mine to her computer, so they can print them out."

She is taking it all in.

"They write books for computer dummies or something like that," she quips. "I can read a book and then go on a computer and try to do it."

In their 70s, George and Virginia Arevalo are raising three granddaughters, including a teenager.

"My 10-year-old granddaughter is the one who uses the computer a lot," George Arevalo says. "I know nothing (about computers), but I would like to."

Helping grandparents get past intimidating technology is part of the conversation at Kinship and Adoption Resource & Education Center (K.A.R.E.), says Laurie Melrood, the program's director.

"We explore the topics," she says. "We have computers here that are open to both youth and adults . . . to help that (older) generation feel more comfortable."