Grandchildren

You remember birthdays. You send messages. You ask about school, friends, and what’s new in the family. You know your grandchildren love you. But sometimes you wonder: what would happen if you stopped being the first to reach out? Would they call? Would they write? Would they know how to start a conversation?

We all hope to see our grandchildren grow up to be happy, healthy, productive and compassionate adults. The part about compassion becomes a huge challenge in today’s world where media frequently spews out negativity and prods us to criticise others…

The funny thing about being a full-time artist is that you think everyone else is creating art too. At least planning to anyway. Fortunately, there are responsible people doing the jobs that we artists try to avoid…

Hanging out with your grandkids is great for your mental and emotional health. But the question for many grandparents is, what activities can I do with them? It can be difficult to keep up with the energy of young children…

I should have known my boys were nature smart long before I had a name for it. When they were little, our house looked a lot like the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. Their pockets were never empty. Rocks. Sticks. Acorns. Milkweed pods. Feathers. Pinecones. Eggshells. Seeds…

I am eager to create a season that will fill my heart and head with pleasant memories that reflect these long, lovely days. For me, the best way to do that is to reach out to friends, neighbors and family and share summer time with them. Here are some of the things that I like to do…

What do stereotypes say about young adults born between 1997 and 2012? What valuable role can grandparents play? To set aside judgment and open up the conversation, they have a key advantage: perspective. They know, for example, that every new generation has, in its own way, been viewed with suspicion by the one that came before it…

If you’re a fan of helping the next generation to get a strong financial start, you may have heard about the new Trump Accounts and wondered: What exactly are they? The name has certainly generated attention, but setting politics aside, you may be wondering about some practical…

It is devastating for a family to learn that their child has a disability. Sometimes families know before their child is even born. Other times, as is the case with autism spectrum disorder…

Most grandmothers I know carry a quiet question: What is my actual role here? You don’t want to overstep. You don’t want to second-guess your adult children. But you also don’t want to sit on the sidelines of the lives of the people you love most. There’s an answer to that question, and it comes from an unlikely place…