This Journey is a lot like Parenting in many ways. We became parents and immediately started searching for the owner’s manual. I don’t know about you all, but neither of my two extraordinary children came with one. It was at this point that I did the next best thing. I sought out others who had gone down the same road and incorporated “SOME” of their ideas for my two cherubims. Note the SOME. Like your family, our circumstances match exactly zero others I searched out. As parents, we had to do our best for our two kids. I am happy to report that some 50-plus years later, both still call and check up on Ole Dad. This has more to do with Grace and a willingness to learn from others than with my intellect or skills as a parent.
I advocate gathering information from credible sources, finding it, and tailoring it to my circumstances. The good news is that with the advent of baby boomers becoming grandparents, many ideas and experiences are being shared freely and abundantly. There is a lot of good information now available. One fascinating source is an organization called Grandparents Academy. A young man named Aaron Larson brought forward his remarkable experiences with his Grandparents and assembled a team of experts in various disciplines specific to Grandparenting in a very effective way. He can be located by going to Grandparentsacademy.com.
I have watched Arron create a palace to gather some of the best authorities on grandparenting and organize them into an easy-to-use and helpful format for those who want to do all they can for our grandchildren. Experts like many times published authors, Richard and Linda Eyre. They have created a Master Class called Grandparenting 101: What to Know from the Start. In addition, Arron has introduced me to an expert in Long Distance Grandparenting, Dr. Kerry Byrne, who is the Founder of “The Long Distance Grandparent.” She is the most effective source of information in this connection area. You can find her at https://thelongdistancegrandparent.com/
These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to information. You should check out Grandparents Academy.
Various Discipline
I call them various disciplines because when it comes to grandparenting, many aspects and circumstances have to be considered, and there are many opportunities to step up your game for the benefit of your grandchildren and the entire family. If you are blessed with a stable extended family, you are in the very fortunate few. For you, gratitude is appropriate. Just this morning, I had breakfast with a friend on his way to Jacksonville, Florida, to visit his twin girls and their families. Between them, he has two granddaughters, a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old. He is amongst the blessed, and he knows it. Most of us have at least a few challenges, to varying degrees, when it comes to our extended families. You will find that most of the credible people who write on the subject of extended family will have information about how to handle the various falls due to these challenging branches of the family. These cover a broad spectrum, from an ex-in-law or two to multiple layers of family dysfunction. I spent years writing about the extremes of extended family dysfunction and complete alienation. It is sad, and I had to move towards the light of hope and write about the majority of pretty functional families. Fortunately, the norm is that many of your extended family find a way to get along. This allows you to continue following the best path to keep it that way. There will be primarily good outcomes, but some may require you to reach deep down inside yourself and find outside help and affirmation during troubled times.
I find great information in the digital issues of Grand Magazine. This can be found at Grandmagazine.com. Just as a teaser, this particular issue features Sir Richard Branson. He is a British business magnate and commercial astronaut. He also founded the Virgin Group, which controls over 400 companies in various fields today. In Grand Magazine, he is called “The Grand Dude”. This same issue celebrates the 20th Anniversary of The Ga Ga Sisterhood, a social network for enthusiastic, creative women who indulge in the joy of being grandmothers. Just know that all of the pertinent subjects are covered well in this magazine. It is one of my go-to sources.
As I stated earlier, AARP has some well-written articles from credible journalists.
