Grandchildren

We just spent a week with our grown children and their families. It doesn’t happen often (10 years ago was the last time) that everyone can congregate at the same place at the same time. It was a special week. For six months we all looked forward to sun and sand and waves and lounging. Read More

I’m sure it’s not the same with everyone, but before my son was born, I was very worried whether I would be able to raise a boy. My world was profoundly feminine because all my closest cousins and siblings are girls. So, my knowledge and understanding of little boys was very limited, to say the least. Read More

This year, it felt like winter would never end. Here in the great North West, we were all feeling a little down for the lack of warmth and sunshine. Now that summer is here, I know that it will go by too quickly – it always does. Read More

People often have set ideas about what a grandmother should be like. However, grandmothers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes – as well as in attitudes to that role. This became very clear to me when I wrote a book based on interviews conducted with 27 very different grandmothers. Read More

The 27-hour flight back to Bali from the U.S. socked it to me this time. So, while I was un-jetlagging and housebound, I rummaged through reading material, organized drawers and, in the process, stumbled upon Grandmother Remembers. Read More

The instant our eyes met, I was done for. One single glance and my knees turned to liquid, my heart to putty. In that moment, I suddenly knew that truth that nothing really happens until it happens to you. Read More

A couple of years ago I started minding my one-year-old granddaughter for two days a week when my daughter returned to work after her maternity leave ended. If you didn’t know, you can catch up with one of the weekly blog posts I wrote here. Read More

Recently, Judy, my wife of 44 years, and I experienced a difficult family situation probably best captured by a rephrasing of the oft-repeated lines from the popular song by the British band The Clash – Should we stay or should we go? Read More

Millennials are at the center of every discussion about values and lifestyle these days, and not much of the conversation is positive! It’s not that they are rebels, or scruffy, or rude to their elders – rather it’s because they are too nice. Read More

By the time you reach your 60s, you’ve almost certainly made your share of financial mistakes. Even if you are one of the lucky few who managed to save consistently for retirement, you probably look back on your life and wish that someone had taught you more about money as a kid. I know I do! Read More