Lots of toys and gifts we give our grandchildren may be lost, broken, or in next fall’s garage sale. But a good book, a favorite author’s newest bestseller they come to treasure, lasts far beyond the latest gadget or electronic toy. When we give a book as a birthday or just because we find something they are interested in, we’re sending the message to children that books are valuable!

A grandma from Fairfax, Virginia, has loved sending books to her granddaughter Anna Maria to the military base as they’ve lived around the world for her dad’s military career. Grandma has sent books on ballet, cooking, and most of all, collections of fairy stories. These book gifts have helped make Anna Maria and her little sister Emma an avid reader.

I love to pick out a book one of our six grandkids would be really interested in, and include it with their birthday and Christmas gifts—or give them a book anytime, just to encourage their reading and interests. Popular books like the Wimpy Kids series are fun, but classics are also great. Recently, I gave Luke and Noah (9 and 10) a copy of Black Beauty and Old Yeller.

But these two soccer, football, and basketball-playing grandsons’ biggest interest is sports. Sports biographies and stories of athletic stars are their #1 choice. That’s why in the past year, their favorite books I’ve given them are Playing with Purpose: Inside the Lives and Faith of the NFL’s Top New Quarterbacks—Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, and Tim Tebow and Linspired: The Remarkable Rise of Jeremy Lin, both written by Mike Yorkey.

Not only did they love reading the motivating stories of these young men’s sports careers, but they are role models of character and strong values, perseverance, hard work, and commitment. Now, that’s a gift I love to share with our grandkids!

Think about what your grandson or granddaughters’ center of learning excitement, favorite hobby or sport is—and then find books to enhance their passion for that subject. It’s one of the best ways to encourage their reading, learning, and development of their potential. I guarantee!

What’s the favorite book you’ve ever given to a grandchild or grand-teen?

Share this:

“Better a creative mess than tidy idleness.”—Unknown

I’ve found when we grandmas provide the raw materials for arts and crafts for our grandkids, the sky is the limit on their creativity. You’ll be amazed at what even younger children can create. If there is a place in your home that the grandkids know they can go to draw, paint or make something when they are visiting, (that they aren’t going to be fussed at for making a little mess) it becomes one of their favorite places to go.

One grandma I know set up card tables and taped large paper on the underside. She provided markers and paint. All her grandchildren (and she had 18) became Michelangelos as they lay on their backs and painted on the “ceiling” when they were at their Mimi’s house.

Make an “Art Space,” a place in your home for drawing or crafts and round up some materials to put up a card table and fill clear stackable drawers or a big plastic box with resources like: craft sticks and toothpicks, stickers of birds, animals, and favorite things, ruler, kid scissors, stapler, glue sticks, old photos, watercolor set, pipe cleaners and small pompoms, zip-lock bags filled with pieces of ribbon and buttons, crayons, markers and colored pencils, bright construction paper and white watercolor paper, stamps and ink pads, small paintbrushes.

Here’s a wonderful spring project they can do with just a few of these materials called Butterfly Power, where the children make a colorful butterfly that captures the size and shape of their little hands:

First, have your grandchild paint (with water colors or crayons) a picture on a piece of paper with lots of yellow, greens, pink, blue and red. After it dries, fold the paper in half, then trace both of the child’s hands, thumbs out to make wings. Cut out the shape and you’ll have a lovely “butterfinger” to frame or put on your refrigerator gallery.

If and when you do get to see your grandchildren this spring season, take them to the park to play and enjoy the weather. Stop for an ice cream cone on the way home, and chat on the way. Breathe a prayer of thanksgiving for these precious children you get to know and love.

What is your favorite art or craft to do with your grandchildren or celebrate spring? Let us know!

Share this:

Yesterday I hit a milestone age.

My thoughtful husband secretly got balloons, a pretty cake, Neapolitan ice cream, and invited our four in-town grandkids and their parents over for a surprise birthday party.

How these grandchildren light up my life and bring joy—on that day and every other day. We have such fun when we go on outings, or I get to have them over. At ages 5, 9, 9, 10, 11 and 14, the three girls and three boys all so busy now during the school year with homework, sports, school plays and programs . . . that I have to make an appointment to see them!

Truly grandkids are the crown of the aging population! I don’t know what yours call you, but ours call us Nandy and Poppa. But there are lots of colorful grandparent names. There’s Ga-Ga and DuPah, Nonny and Papps, GiGi and Honey, and Ama White Car (my friend Ann’s twin grandboys called her that from before they were two years old and it stuck.) They still call her that at age 15.

No matter what name you’re called or where you live, there’s one thing most of us have in common: a desire to connect with our grandchildren! That’s why you read this blog. We want to love our grandkids well and be a support and positive influence in their lives.

And let me assure you, grandparents are not obsolete! They hold an important place in the life of every family. Families are more mobile than ever, with more frequent moves for corporate or military assignments so there’s more long-distance grandparenting. Kids are far more high-tech, very advanced at using computers and smartphones.

The pressures on families today are increasing as parents struggle to balance work with family and a myriad of demands and challenges. That’s why grandparents are needed more than ever—to be not only a support to fatigued parents but life-givers who provide continuity to the family and a much-needed sense of stability, security, and unconditional love to grandchildren.

We can make a tremendous difference in the lives of our grandsons and granddaughters whether they are two or eighteen or some age beyond—by simple things like believing in them, blessing them, and staying connected with them whether we live close or far away.

Yet blessing is always a two-way street, and we are the recipients of great grace when we get to be grandparents. Let me encourage you, no matter how busy you are, to make a call to them, send hugs and love across the miles via e-mail, or say a prayer for your grandkids today.

Ponder and share with a friend:

• What ways do your grandchildren bless you?

• What’s your favorite thing about being a grandparent?

Share this:

Every year the evening before Easter, we gather as a family and decorate eggs together—from the youngest to the oldest. Our sons and their wives come if in town, our daughter and her husband.

And this year—drum roll please! All six grandchildren will be here for the Easter Egg Decorating Party.

The grown-ups prepare bowls of bright colored egg dye. The great aunts, Lynn and Dru, always find some super-fun egg decorating kit—this year it’s neon egg dye or tie-dye egg kits. One year they brought a swirl bowl that the grandkids still use; it makes very fancy, fun eggs. Each Easter season there are new and even more interesting egg dyeing and decorating kits.

On a long table on the sun porch with a plastic tablecloth (very important so you don’t ruin a nice tablecloth!), we put out all kinds of craft materials to make interesting and creative Easter eggs, like:

• Glitter

• Different colors of tiny beads make pretty jeweled eggs

• Decals (stick on and then dip the eggs in dye; remove the decals after you’ve reached the color you like)

• Squiggly eyes to glue on and make funny-face eggs, small pom-poms or yarn for hair, etc.

• Small sponges to apply different swaths of colors on the same eggs

• Q-tips, toothpicks and string

• White glue and glue sticks

When the grandkids and grown-ups get hungry, have pizza and drinks at hand. Add some snacks and before the grandchildren leave, snuggle together on the couch and read aloud a book that shares the Easter story.

Some years we give prizes: most creative egg design, most colorful, most improved. It’s all in fun and a little competition just makes the egg decorating a bit more exciting.

Have a wonderful Holy Week, and set aside some time to reread the Easter story in the Bible and meditate upon God’s amazing love that we see and in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Then as you gather for Easter morning, church services, a family meal and Easter egg hunt, enjoy the moments with your family and friends, and especially those precious grandchildren you are so gifted to have in your life!

Share this:

I have several friends whose grandkids are a world away in the Middle East, Okinawa and Germany. Although they only get to see them in person twice a year, the best way they’ve found to keep a close connection is through the Internet and their computer’s webcam.

When all that was available was a phone call, they had repeated interference and dropped calls because reception in particularly the Middle East and Japan was poor. But with videoconferencing, they are right there even with a large difference in time and miles.

When Judy wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and is having her morning coffee, the phone often rings and it’s Anna calling Grandma before she leaves for school. On her extra-large computer screen, Judy (or Ju-Ju as her grandkids call her) sees Anna dance across the room and greet her. Later in the day, she reads books to Anna and shows her each illustration.

Grandparents like Judy whose grown children and grandchildren are spread across the country and world are finding great ways to keep connected with their grandchildren. What a difference it has made in their communication and their ability to be a part of each other’s lives!

A few decades ago the only way to connect with loved ones was by phone and through the mail—and it’s still a great way to keep in touch. But today we have the advantage of technology to bridge the distance between grandparents and their grandchildren who live in different places.

Yes, technology can be a hassle, but the upside is the ease of connecting across vast distances. Grandparents can be “present” at their grandson’s birthday while he’s in England and they’re in New York. They can watch their one or two-year old grandchild’s development month by month. They can play card and other games via Internet. If you use your creativity and the latest technology, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to keep in touch.

And since children and teens tend to be much more advanced in using technology than we are and it’s such a natural part of their lives (even for preschoolers), they enjoy communicating with grandparents via the Internet. This is especially true as they grow into pre-teens. As one middle school teacher said, “If you have kids between ages 11 and 14, $20 says they’re on the Internet right now.” Why not join them, Grandma?

All the advances in technology mean that long-distance grandparenting is a little less daunting (after you get the webcam set up and the software downloaded or purchase a new laptop that has a built-in webcam.) And if you’re technically challenged, you could get a computer-smart friend to help you get everything going.

The iPhone 4 and 4Shas a “Facetime” feature so that as long as you and your grandkids are in a Wi-Fi zone, you can press a button and see them while you talk on the phone across the miles. And if this high-tech way of connecting is not your cup of tea, feel free to send those letters and cards through snail mail and talk on the phone because each time you reach out, it makes them feel special.

See you in two weeks—gotta go have some face time with our granddaughters in Texas!

Share this:

Recently, my daughter and two daughter-in-laws rounded up the six cousins (our grandchildren ages 5 to 14) and headed for Tulsa, Oklahoma, an hour-and-a-half drive away.

Why did we embark on this outing? Their great aunts, Lynn and Dru, had gotten tickets to the Michael Jackson World Tour Cirque du Soleil performance for all of us, and they met us in downtown Tulsa. We checked into three rooms at the Doubletree Hotel down the street from the BOK Performance Center, and the fun began.

The grandkids swam in the big indoor pool (it was cold and rainy outside, so a great way to work out some of their wiggles before the 2½ hour performance). We ordered boxes of Papa John’s pizza and ate those in a big room. And there were snacks galore: caramel and cheese popcorn, Gatorade, Lemonade Slammers, and a big bag of pretzels.

Fortunately, the hotel had a Starbucks downstairs so when the noise level got too high at one point, I had a little break for a café latte with the two oldest grandgirls.

We played Uno and other card games before the concert; the kids watched a Disney TV show or two. Then it was time for our big group of 12 to walk over to the Performing Arts Center in the chilly wind. The grandchildren loved the whole show—“This is a highlight of the year!” one said.

However, just as we walked the three blocks back to the hotel and the adults were ready to wind down, the kids had a surge of energy. Lots of togetherness followed in the hotel rooms, and finally at midnight, they fell asleep in their respective beds! Was Grandma ever ready for rest!

The next morning brought hungry tummies and breakfast downstairs. Then we all said goodbye and hugged several times before the drive back. It wasn’t a five-day vacation, but a memory-making, mid-winter break, and big fun was had by all.

What place, concert, or event could you plan and take one or all of your grandchildren to? Whether it’s an orchestra performance, a sporting event, or a local arts festival, it will be a great opportunity to spend some time together and make a memory.

Share this:

Dear Grandparents near and far, Valentine’s Day went by with a whoosh, along with the rest of February! (That’s me pictured with five of my six grandkids, looking a little tired on Sunday morning after a big concert.)

When we turn around a few times, it will be March. But I wanted to pass along an idea I’ve done for my six grandkids every year and continue doing because they love it. You can save it and use for next year.

To me, every day is a good day to say “I love you,” because life is short and we don’t know if we’re going to have tomorrow and tomorrow to convey our love to those we care about. That’s why I love Valentine’s Day—yes, it’s a commercialized American holiday. But it’s another terrific opportunity to say and show our love in a concrete way to our grandchildren.

One way I do that is to create a Valentine bag for each one: Caitlin, Caleb, Noah, Luke, Josephine and Lucy. I got a package of big red doilies and wrote their name on each one with “Happy © Day” and attached the doily to a small white gift bag. (You can use a glue stick; secure the doily with photo-stickers used in scrapbooking. Or, hey, if you have nothing else, rolled-up scotch tape will work to secure the big red heart).

Then I put a variety of surprises and treats in the Valentine bags. The parents are okay with it since I don’t give them candy all the time. After all, it’s a holiday that revolves around love and chocolate! Use your imagination and keep in mind what they like most.

I get each of their favorite treats (like Twix, Twizzlers, or Reece’s Pieces), add some sticks of sugarless bubble gum, high bouncing balls, “Magic Towels” (they come in shapes like a football, soccer ball, Cinderella, etc. and are $1 at the Dollar Tree stores), flavored lip gloss or bracelets for the girls, baseball or football cards, (and small action figures when they were younger) for the boys, sometimes a book for each one. I also bake up a batch of homemade cookies and pack those in. You can collect the non-edible items a few months ahead.

Then find a Valentine card or make your own. Write words like, “If I could pick any 10-year-old in the world to be my grandson or granddaughter, I’d pick you!” or “I’m proud of you for ……”

Or make up a “Ten Things I Love about Jenny” and write ten to match her age. Tuck the card in the Happy Valentine’s Day sack and make a special delivery.

If your grandchildren live in another city or state, or maybe even across the world—mail it and you’ll put a big smile on their faces. They will know once again that Grandma or Grandpa (or Mimi or Nana, whatever they call you) was thinking of them, loves them, and that they are very special to you.

Share this:

Praying for our six grandchildren has been one of the best parts of my life during this season of grandparenting. For many grandparents, it becomes a real joy to bless their grandkids with the gift of prayer.

“What am I going to do with all this time on my hands?” Dot, a grandma of five, wondered as she pondered her husband’s retirement and their moving a hundred miles away from her grandchildren, friends and home church. God answered her in a way that surprised her.

Direction started coming her way, like the words in Psalm 71 that say, “Even when I’m old and gray, don’t forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation.”

With a great desire to pass on the heritage of faith and trust in God she’d received from her parents and grandparents, she began a Grandmas in Prayer group that met weekly in her home. She invited women she’d met at a local church and newcomers in the community who had also retired, and they joined their hearts and prayers for their grandchildren who were spread all over the U.S. Many wonderful blessings and answers to prayer came from that weekly one hour of faithful prayers through the years.

Each night she and the other grandmas called or e-mailed their grandkids and say, “Tomorrow’s my Grandmas in Prayer group. How can I pray for you?” Sometimes they ask for prayer for a math test, band or baseball team tryout.

If you’d like to pray with other women for your grandkids and theirs, here are a few ways to start:

• Go to http://www.momsintouch.org and you’ll find resources like a prayer guide to lead your group, Scripture verses to pray for your grandchildren, and helpful suggestions.

• Reach out and connect with others. If you’re alone, pray for one other grandma to join you and put a notice in your church bulletin, community or neighborhood bulletin board to let other women know about your group. Then start!

• Let your grandchildren know you are praying and keep in touch with them. If they live far away, write or e-mail to tell them you’re prayer. Enclose paper and stamped envelopes and invite them to send you prayer requests.

• For more encouragement about praying for your children and grandchildren, see Cheri’s book When Mothers Pray and A Busy Woman’s Guide to Prayer. And if you’d like the free, full-length Bible Study that accompanies When Mothers Pray, e-mail her!

Ponder & Apply

• What’s a prayer in your life from your grandparents’ prayers for you?

• Ask God for a verse to pray for each individual grandchild.

Share this:

Our prayers live on before God

and God’s heart is set on them

and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them,

they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.

—E.M. Bounds

What a joy and privilege it is to pray for our grandchildren, to pass on to our descendants, our precious little and big granddaughters and grandsons, a legacy of prayer! In praying for them, we are building up a large storehouse of blessing which will descend upon their lives in God’s timing.

Prayer is the one gift that will outlive our lives, as prayer theologian E.M. Bounds said in the quote above, for “our prayers live on before God” and continue to bless our children, children’s children, and beyond to future descendants.

One of my favorite ways to pray for grandchildren is called Handprint Prayers. When you and your grandkids are together, take different colors of card stock, one for each child. Trace their hands on the cardstock, and when they ask why, explain that each morning, you will put your hand on their handprint as you pray for them each day. Write their names and a special verse or quote which reminds you of each child, and put it in your Bible.

You can carry those handprints with you when you travel, and even if you’re in another state or country, you’ll be connecting heart to heart with your grandchild and their Creator who loves them even more than we do! Over the years, as you will see those handprints grow and grow as your prayers will bless their lives in ways you can’t imagine.

One of the biggest blessings of all is to praying God’s Word for our grandchildren. The Bible is full of beautiful promises and prayers we can pray for the next generation. Like Proverbs 3:5, which I prayed for our sons and also for our grandchildren: “Lord, help my grandchildren to trust you with all their hearts and not lean on their own understanding.” This prayer reflects God’s purpose for our grandkids, not just our own agenda—that they will trust Him!

Biblical prayers cover a lot of bases: their friendships, comfort, hope, health, and more. Personalize these for your family and cover them with a blanket of loving prayers. Then see the harvest as you persevere through the years, always keeping an ear out for what’s on God’s heart for them, His Word and how the Spirit would have you to pray!

Share this:

Many families today are scattered across the country. Like you and me, millions of Baby Boomers have become grandparents (we now comprise over 30 percent of the population and are growing!).

We may be busy with careers, travel and activities of our own, but we want to connect with their grandkids, make memories and be a loving influence in the lives of their grandchildren despite geographical distance, the busyness of their grown children’s and grandchildren’s lives, the challenges of this wired generation of kids, and any other obstacles.

Maybe you’re fortunate in having two, seven, or more of your grandchildren nearby—or part of them. But many grandparents are separated by a short or long distance. As an eight-year-old boy said when he was asked where his grandma lives:

“Oh, she lives at the airport. And when we want her we just go get her. Then when we’re done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.”

When our granddaughters Josephine and baby Lucy were living in Wisconsin, and the only way I could visit was to fly there. I think they might have thought that from those trips to the airport to pick Nandy up!

Whether you are close or across the country or world, the ideas that I share in this “Grandparenting Near and Far” blog each week can be applied no matter where your grandchildren live. It’s all about building a good connection. And one of the best things I’ve learned as a grandma is that it’s the little things (not just the big splashy things) done consistently and lovingly over time that develop a great relationship.

Since kids love the element of surprise, that opens up a whole range of ways to connect with them and let them know we are thinking about them. Here are two to get you started. The first one is called “30 Kisses.”

A month before you arrive at the grandkids’ house, send them a jar with thirty Hershey kisses, representing the days left until you’ll be together. Encourage them (after talking about it with their parents) every day to eat one Hershey kiss, and when all the kisses are gone, you’ll be there. For grandparents who’ve done this, the excitement builds and builds over the thirty days, until the grandchildren can’t wait to eat the last one, knowing the next day you’ll all be together.

Some of us grandparents like to make care packages to surprise our long-distance grandchildren, or to deliver to our grandkids when they lives closer but are at home sick. You can include inexpensive, age-appropriate gifts and surprises you know they like and tuck in a funny card or personal note.

Chewing gum (sugarless is best), homemade cookies, a Bible promise book, a $2 bill, word puzzles, or a book by their favorite author, a poem you wrote just for them or prayer you are praying for them, a tiny stuffed animal or small Superhero figure are some ideas. The sky’s the limit, and the Dollar stores are good sources to find surprises.

Remember, it’s not the money or items you send. What matters is that you are showing love to your grandson or granddaughter and letting them know you are thinking about them and praying for them daily.

What are your grandkids “favorite things”?

 Jot down a list for each one and continue to add to it when you are with them and get new insights. The “Favorites” list will come in handy when you are putting together a surprise care package or at birthday time.

Share this: