Long Distance Grandparenting

This is post is based some input and ideas by Jen at Jen on the Edge.

At lot of my posts have to do with grandparents that are close by, because, fortunately, both of our parents live within 1 ½ hours of us and visit us very frequently.  But for the majority of people, one or both sets of parents don’t live close by, so here are some helpful hints for them to still be able to stay close by their grandkids:

1.)    Call the kids on the phone!  My mom actually made me put the phone by my daughter’s ear when she was 3 months old because she wanted my daughter to get to know her voice.  I thought she was insane, but now looking back I realize how sweet that was!

**This also goes both ways…have the grandkids call the parents often as well!!!  I’m bad at this due to our busy schedule and my mom always “yells” at me because my kids hardly call her.

2.)    E-mail the kids as soon as they start using a computer regularly!  Kids love to get e-mails and how cool is it to get one from Grandma and Grandpa on a regular basis!  If you’re really cool, try setting up a webcam so that you and your grandkids can talk and see each other at the same time!

3.)    Mail the kids letters!  I only lived 45 minutes away from my grandmother when I was little, but I still loved getting letters from her and writing her back.

**Again, this goes both ways as well…have the kids write letters to Grandma and Grandpa too!

4.)    Call and “kiss” them goodnight!  You can read them a quick story (unlimited long distance would probably be a good investment at this point) or sing them a song.

5.)    Visit as often as you can!  You know everyone loves and misses you, so trek on over to their part of the woods and spend some good quality time with them!