10 Ways to Be the Best Grandparent Ever

Want to be the very best grandparent you can be? Good! Because grandparents matter immensely. Here are 10 tips to wonderful grandparenting.

1. Pray for your grandchildren. Don’t limit your requests to health and safety, although those are important. Ask that your grandchildren will know God early in life and follow him with their whole hearts.

2. Pray for your grandchildren’s parents. Pray for their relationship to be stable, loving, and focused on God. (Also be alert to how God might be asking you to be part of the answer to those prayers–a gift of help at home, of listening, of caring for grandkids so their parents can enjoy an evening out?)

3. Accept your grandchildren as they are and enjoy them! Offer unconditional love.

4. Really get to know your grandchildren. Watch and listen. Ask questions. What are their interests, likes, dislikes, fears? What talents do they display? Can you help to foster those? Even if your grandchildren live far away, it’s still possible to connect and relate. Here’s a link with WONDERFUL tips: http://www.thecultureblend.com/?p=1769. You also might enjoy the book Long Distance Grandma by Janet Tietsort.

5. Take care of your health. You want to be around for those grandkids for quite a while, don’t you?

6. If you are one of the many grandparents in the US today who are raising grandchildren in your home, find support for the task. Here’s one place to start: http://www.grandparents.com/family-and-relationships/caring-for-children/whenyoureaparentagain

7. Find creative ways to impact the lives of your grandchildren and broaden their view of the world. Invite them to learn with you–let them help you garden, cook, serve at a shelter, fish, hike, or woodwork, for example.

8. Share your stories. How were your growing-up years different than your grandchildren’s? How are they same?

9. Find good resources–books, websites, community programs–to enrich and inspire your grandparenting experience. Your grandchildren will enjoy books about other children and their grandparents too. One that’s sure to bring a smile is The Grandma Mix-Up by Emily Arnold McCully.

10. Plan now to participate in the Grandparents Day of Prayer on September 7. You can pray from your home, or join a group. Get more information here.

DIANE

Visit Diane at www.dianestortz.com

Comments

10 Ways to Be the Best Grandparent Ever — 5 Comments

Linda McQuinn Carlblom on August 8, 2014 at 11:05 am said:

Excellent suggestions, Diane. I’m trying to figure out a new way of grandparenting now that my grands have moved out of state. I feel so disconnected from them now, though we were so close when they lived here. I appreciate these ideas and resources.

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- Diane Stortz on August 8, 2014 at 11:12 am said:
  
  It can take a while to figure out what works, Linda, and even after you do, things can change because people and circumstances change. But the effort is worth it!
  
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Lillian Penner on August 8, 2014 at 6:05 pm said:

Good article. Thanks for mentioning Grandparents’ Day of Prayer. Bless you!

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Darcy Hill on August 23, 2014 at 7:56 am said:

Beautiful, wise, inspiring words about being a grandparent. As a teacher of 30 years, I have seen the blessing and the strength and the critical importance of the grandparent/grandchild relationship time and time again. Here is a Grandparents’ Day Song I wrote for my students to share during a program for our very special, very adoring guests:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtovTNnBSKQ&list=UU7Do67VvlE3esX9ATQ5WQ-A

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- Diane Stortz on August 23, 2014 at 10:48 am said:
  
  I do want to be a good grandparents and leave my grandkids a legacy of faith and unconditional love! Sweet song, Darcy! Thank you for sharing it!
  
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