grandparenting
We have been polling the registered course members, and here are some of the things we have learned: • All ages are registering for the course—from grand- parents who are in their 40s to many in their 80s—some with one grandchild (or expecting their first one) and others with 20 or more—and this variety lets us all learn from each other. • Over 80% are married, and many do the course together, but a significant number of single grandparents are registered. • Members are spread throughout the U.S., with just under 10% living in other countries. • 62% have at least one grandchild who lives more than 500 miles away, and 51% have at least one living within 10 miles of their home. • In listing their reasons for taking the course, 51% say they “Don’t want to re-discover the wheel on how to grand- parent.” 41% say they don’t feel they are proactive enough. 19% say they have a serious worry about a grandchild. And 35% say they feel like they are missing out and want to be more involved. • On the question “How important is Grandparenting to you?” 58% checked “Supremely Important, one of the three most important things in my life” and another 39% checked “Very Important.” • In ranking from 1-5 how close they feel to their grand- kids, with 5 being “extremely close” most said they were a 3. • 89% said they wanted to become more involved with their grandkids. 39% said they were very interested in pro- viding financial help that did not “entitle,” 78% in learning to give advice that did not step on parent’s toes, 75% in helping in-law kids feel part of the family, 71% in con- necting grandkids to ancestors, 38% in improving their
empty-nest marriage, and 92% in building trusting relation- ships with individual grandkids. • Course members also respond to questions like: What is your core goal as a grandparent? What is the most fun you have ever had with grandkids? What is the most important thing you want to teach your grandkids? How do you help them financially? How do you help them spir- itually or morally? What is your biggest current grandpar- enting challenge? What do you want your grandchildren to remember you for? What is the funniest moment you remember with a grandchild? What is the best grandpar- enting idea you have ever had? The bottom line is that there is huge (and ever-growing) interest out there in the art and skill of good, difference- making grandparenting! Hats off to Christine and GRAND Magazine for helping to meet this interest and providing a forum for the discussion of grandparenting issues and ideas. And for an even deeper dive into those issues and ideas, we invite you to register for the 6-month course (you can enter the course at any time because the classes repeat) at www.Grandparenting101.com .
The Eyres’ parenting and life-balance books have reached millions and been translated into a dozen lan- guages. As fellow baby boomers, their passion and their writing focus have now shifted to the joy of grandparenting. Linda’s latest book is Grandmother- ing, and Richard’s is Being a Proactive Grandfather , and their latest initiative is a Grandparenting101 Zoom course which has an invitation list that you can join by emailing EyresGrandparenting101@gmail.com
20 GRANDP arenting
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