Grandparenting from a distance

Grandparenting from a distance.
John and I had one of our children move to Hawaii a few years ago. While we made ourselves visit once a year, we also wanted to find ways to remain connected to our young grandson, Josh. When we visited, we made sure to repeat some of our regular rituals with him, like getting out John’s childhood train and putting it up at Christmas. (We substituted a different one, of course.) We also had special “bonding” time alone with Josh as well as with his parents. We invited Josh to spend a few nights with us at a nearby hotel. We had great fun swimming, walking along the beach and eating meals together … a little “appropriate” grandparent spoiling. We often tried to incorporate a special holiday during a visit … and we took lots of pictures that we gave him, framed and sent in later notes.

We, of course, read lots to and with Josh and after returning from one of our visits we bought a story book and began reading nightly tales for him on a tape. We sent them to Josh so that he could go to sleep at night … or for his naps, while listening to us reading a story. His mother said that he loved hearing us read to him … and talked about it a lot.

We would be interested in comments from other grandparents about how they kept in touch with their grandchildren from a distance.

Questions and Answers

Please share your experiences with relationship dilemmas ... and successes. We will be glad to share some of our thoughts .... and will invite others to share as well. We will be interested in what the challenges are you are facing ...
* How to handle problems with your adult children?
* What to consider when you are caring for aging parents and how do you care for your self? When are you being selfish and when are you using appropriate self-care?
* How to enrich your marriage or relationship with your significant other as you have more free time?
* How to handle new or old areas of conflict?
* What to think about when planning financially for retirement. (We are not financial planners, however, have done lots of thinking ourselves and can add to a "conversation" about these ideas.)

Retirement Relationships

Do you think about the many different kinds of relationships that you will experience in your 50's, 60's, 70's and later? Some may change, grow more challenging, pose problems or be the basis for a fuller, richer life.
Relationships include the one that you share with your spouse/significant other ..
Relationships that you share with your children, grandchildren, parents, siblings...
... with your money ... with your employment/career ...
... with your time ...
This blog will explore these and many more aspects of changes and how to enhance the life that you now have.