grandparenting Be a world opener for your grandkids! Helping your grandkids become citizens of the world Kids today have access to the whole world—on their screens and smartphones and on Google. But that virtual world is not the same as the real world, and sometimes grandparents can be the portal through which their grandchildren experience (and learn to think accurately and broadly about) the places and the breadth of the planet they actually live on. You can be their oracle, in a way, not only through the stories you tell them, but through the things you show them and the places you actually take them. Here are a couple of examples that may spark your ideas: Traveling together Almost any kind of travel, particularly with a reasonably knowledgeable BY RICHARD AND LINDA EYRE
grandparent(s), can be a world-opener. Take your grandkids to places you love, whether those places are art galleries or amusement parks or hunting lodges. Share your passions geographically. One-on-one trips are usually best, although if you have a couple of grandkids roughly the same age, you can certainly take them together. And besides taking them to places that interest you and arouse your passions, find out what places might feed into your grandkids’ current interests. See which of their interests lend themselves to a particular place or experience, and try to find locations where a little grandfather-grandchild trip might be appropriate and fun. Too often the time we spend with grandkids is in little bursts—a quick visit, a meal together, a movie, or a little outing. These short-exposure events do not lend themselves to deep communication or to gradually rising trust levels. The inher- ent value of travel, particularly with just you and one or two grandkids, is that travel time is conversation and communication time, and the longer you are together, the more relaxed the atmosphere becomes and the more feelings and attitudes mani- fest themselves as trust grows. Humanitarian expeditions While it can be great fun to take a grandchild to an sporting event or a resort, it is even more fun and vastly more educational to take that same grandchild to a part of the world that is way out of her comfort zone and that opens his eyes to the bigger world, particularly the third-world. There are numerous nonprofit organizations that orchestrate aid missions and humanitarian projects in various parts of the world and design these expeditions specifically for family participation. Many readers will be familiar with Habitat for Humanity , where families can go for a week or even a long weekend to build affordable housing for poor families in Mexico or other areas where there is high need for very basic shelter.
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