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Mike Link and Kate Crowley are grandparents of three young boys and a little girl- Matthew, born September 3, 2003 and Aren and Ryan, twins born August 14, 2004 and Annelise, born May 10, 2007. This is not how we would have expected to introduce ourselves a few years ago, but that is the magic of grandparenting. It is not what you plan, but rather what happens to you. Read more about Mike & Kate

  The Joy of Grandparenting

“Where are you dad?”

“We got a late start and have about an hour till we get to you, why?”

“Well you better hurry. Your grandson heard Gampa was coming and now we are sitting out on the curb waiting for you to arrive.”

An hour later we found our greeting party on the curb, on the blanket.

Who could ask for a better welcome than that? That’s the love our grandchildren have for us if we are willing to involve ourselves in their lives; the reason we want to create special memories with our grandchildren. Our greatest gift to them is our love and attention. They are the greatest gift we could receive.

In an age when “Soccer Mom” and “Soccer Dad” are used as normal terms to describe parenting, we know we are in a confusion of roles and relationships. Often parents are scheduling rather than parenting; channeling rather than nurturing. Our society has enabled some parents to allow others to “coach” their children into maturity. This may not be the parent’s choice, but in the driven world we have created, the demands to make a living are great. But do not despair; there is a solution that is ancient in its lineage. As an editorial in the Washington Post by Abigail Trafford describes the plight of today’s families, she refers to the next two decades as the transition from baby boomers to grand baby boomers.

As our society becomes more world mixed and other cultures come to be more prominent, will we hope that we will relearn the lessons of extended families. Good parenting actually means extending the safety net of experiences, support, love, learning, and connection through extended roles of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins as found in the traditional cultures throughout the world.

On this website we hope to explore the role and the pleasures of grandparenting. Join us in discussions, check out the places to go, read essays on grandparenting, and share your thoughts.

New Activity Suggestion: Geocaching!

Take a look at www.geocaching.com; there you'll find a great activity for grandparents and grandchildren. My first geocaching partner was a granddaughter. One of my current partners is a grandson. For $90 to $100, you can buy a GPS receiver which will do the job just fine. It should be a handheld, though, not the kind mounted in a vehicle, although they might do. It's basically the combination of a treasure hunt and a swap meet, using a GPSr as your guide. There are at least 5000 geocaches in Michigan.

Advantages:
1. Fresh air
2. Use your eyes and your brain
3. No TV
4. Discover places and wildlife you never knew existed in your area.
5. Meet nice people when you're "out in the field."
 
Disadvantages:
Could become addictive!

You might also want to contact the Michigan Geocaching Organization.
Look them up in Google.

We want to share a letter from Pat Pierce in Anthem, AZ with thanks:
 
I wanted to tell you about this fun place...the Children's Museum of Phoenix. Last week, we took our three-year old granddaughter there. As stated in the brochure, their mission is to "engage the minds, muscles and imaginations of children and the grown-ups who care about them." Housed in an old, but well-renovated school building, the museum offers 35,000 square feet of hands-on, interactive exhibits especially appealing to the pre-kindergarten set. I doubt older children would find it very exciting, but it sure was fun for all the little ones there that day.
 
Offerings include a noodle forest to navigate, a sensory room for under threes, an art studio with a variety of necessary craft materials and thorough printed instructions for two different projects (as it was the week before Halloween, Sadie made a spooky tree from a brown paper lunch bag), a bike wash drive-through (waterless, but otherwise very similar to real car wash facilities), a huge play kitchen with a brick "oven" for cooking pizzas...and so on. All very imaginative, interspersed with artful touches everywhere, and lots of inspiring ideas for do-it-your-selfers.
 
Not very crowded and lots of fun. Had a small snack in the kid-friendly cafe. Now, Sadie can't wait to go to museums with papa and gram. And neither can we.
 

And also, a contribution from Helen Lindberg:

From writer's almanac today - cool grandma story:

It's the birthday of Mexican novelist and essayist Carlos Fuentes, (books by this author) born in Panama City in 1928. His father was a Mexican diplomat, and growing up, Carlos moved all over the place—to Brazil, the United States, Argentina, Chile—but every summer he spent in Mexico with his grandmothers, and they were both storytellers. He said, "They were the storehouse of these great tales of migrants, revolution, highway robberies, bandits, love affairs, ways of dressing, eating -- they had the whole storehouse of the past in their heads and their hearts. So this was, for me, very fascinating, this relationship with my two grannies -- the two authors of my books really." And he has written many books, including The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962), Terra Nostra (1975), The Old Gringo (1985), and The Campaign (1990). His most recent book available in this country is Happy Families, which was translated into English last year.
He said, "Don't classify me, read me. I'm a writer, not a genre."