On being a grandma….

I’m just wondering if grandparenting is different for this generation?  Does the addition of technology make it easier to grandparent?  Or do us baby boomers just want more involvement in their lives?

As  I sit at a  bouncy place watching my grandkids run  and jump their hearts out, I think about grandparenting. Has grandparenting changed for the baby boomers?  Are we more involved than our parents and grandparents in our grandkids lives?

From my own experiences, one set of grandparents passed away by the time I was 5 years old, and in the other set, my grandfather was gone before I remember him.  I have many fond memories of my Grandmother and card games with my mountain side of the family.  In addition, my memories involve ones of holidays with that family and summer visits. Since they lived a distance away, they weren’t here to be involved in sports games or everyday care activities, but memories still seemed to happen.

With my own children, I hope they have good memories with one set of grandparents, and my mother. My father passed away before they were added to the family.  Although the grandparents were involved with them around holidays and visits throughout the year, they too were not involved on a regular basis with sports games, or daily caretaking.

As I attend different events with my grandkids now, I see other grandparents attending sports events, parties, and watch on facebook as they talk about caretaking the grandkids on a regular basis.  My own grandkids live in my house currently, so we are entrenched in their day to day lives and dramas.  It hasn’t always been the case as my grandkids lived a long distance from me for most of their lives, so I saw them infrequently.

I’m just wondering if grandparenting is different for this generation?  Does the addition of technology make it easier to grandparent?  Or do us baby boomers just want more involvement in their lives?

So how about it Boomer Grandparents?  What are your thoughts?  Has grandparenting changed?  For the better or worse?   And how do your adult children feel about the involvement in their lives?

Join the conversation……