Anna Quindlen has learned to butt out
“Hang back,” Quindlen, who has two grandkids, advises grandparents in her latest book.
Are you a typical American grandparent?
There’s a new study out about grandparents. Some of its findings surprised me.
Why grandparents outnumber grandchildren
There used to be many more children than elders; now, for the first time in history, the old outnumber the young.
More myths about grandparents that it’s time to trash
Many stereotypes about grandparents are wrong.
A loving grandpa in a hateful world
Maurice Stallard was murdered in Kentucky last week while shopping with his grandson at Kroger’s. The alleged killer, who is white, likely targeted him because he was black.
The grandfather and the frog
A zoologist who just identified a new species of frog has named it after his three-year-old granddaughter, Sylvia.
John Mellencamp was a grandma’s boy
“Buddy, don’t forget,” Laura Mellencamp told her grandson daily. “You’re the handsomest, luckiest, most talented boy in the world.”
She lost her daughter to murder. Will her grandson be taken from her, too?
A grieving mother seeks justice.
Does modern parenting ruin kids?
Because of how their parents are raising them, kids will grow up to be more entitled, less disciplined, and less independent than their elders, an overwhelming majority of Australian grandparents believes.
How many years can you expect to spend as a healthy grandparent?
Americans and Canadians are spending more years as grandparents than they did a generation ago, and they’re spending them in better health—even though they’re older when their grandkids are born.
A daycare center for all ages blooms in Milwaukee
“This is such a joyful place,” says a vice president of the St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care. “The adults bring joy to the kids, the kids bring joy to the adults.”
How Baby Boomers and Millennials can help one another
A new app will connect young people who need housing with empty-nesters who need income.
Japanese millennials are building lives with their grandparents
In search of meaning, urban 20-somethings in Japan are migrating to the countryside to live with or near their grandparents.
What is age segregation and why is it bad?
For the most part, we spend time with people close to us in age. Here’s why we should branch out.
“I know that they need me, but I need them more”
Thanks to Francie Robertson of Cascade, Montana for submitting this poem, which she wrote when her grandson Titus was a baby, his brother Jude was 2, and she was their daytime caregiver.
“If your grandparents are still alive, embarrass them and yourself”
Ask your grandparents questions about themselves before it’s too late, urges novelist Michael Chabon.
Grandmothers, unite!
With Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Steve Bannon headed to the White House, many of us are feeling powerless. We’re not.
The four-generation barbershop
Bob Townsend of Summersville, West Virginia practically grew up in the barbershop that his father opened in town during the Great Depression. Now, he owns the shop and employs his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson there.
A grandmother and her Girl Scouts
All the Girl Scouts troops in her California town were full, so Kathy Richardson started a new one for her granddaughter and her friends.
Ann Patchett dreams of her grandmother
In a beautiful essay, the novelist Ann Patchett recalls how she moved back to her hometown—Nashville, Tennessee—when she was 30, largely to care for her grandmother.
Back to school, with Grandpa
Melanie Salazar, 18, just started her first year at Palo Alto College in San Antonio, Texas, where her grandpa, Rene Neira, is completing his associate’s degree.
What do your grandkids call you?
I’ve been asking grandparents around the country what they’re called and why. Here are a few of their stories.
Welcome to The Grandparent Effect
Grandparents are healthier, wealthier, and longer-lived than ever before. What does this mean for us all?
Grandparents are healthier than ever
Grandparents are healthier than they were 30 years ago, even though they’re also older, a Canadian study has found.
A writer, her granddaughters, and the magic of Sicily
Francine Prose returns to an island she fell in love with years ago.
What if every classroom had a grandparent?
Kids need love. Grandparents are good at giving it. That’s why an army of them is being recruited to serve in the public schools of Syracuse, New York, where too many students have been getting suspended and too few have been graduating.
“That’s what grandmas are for”
I love the way Michelle Obama toasted her mom, who moved into the White House to help raise her granddaughters, at a Mother’s Day Tea in 2014.
“This is not the way we thought our lives would be”
Guy and Joanne Sinclair have been raising their granddaughter since their daughter got hooked on heroin.
It takes a village to pay the bills
More and more older Americans are giving money to their children and grandchildren, and the amount they’re giving is rising.
Can a grandma stand in for a dad?
Children who live with a single mother and at least one grandparent fare just as well as children who live with both parents, research shows.
Obama’s birth meant a new life for his grandparents
Stanley and Madelyn Dunham didn’t know many black people until their daughter fell in love with a college classmate from Africa.
“Laughter once again fills my house”
When her son died in 2012, Denise Villescaz “saw no light,” she says. Then, two years later, her granddaughters were born.
The biggest love she’s ever known
“Having grandchildren expands your heart beyond all boundaries you’ve ever known,” says Elaine Dove of Tustin, California. “It’s like loving your children on steroids.”
How to help a teenager thrive
A new study finds that teens who maintain close, loving relationships with their grandparents suffer fewer emotional and behavioral problems than their peers.
A child is born, and the whole world shifts
Tammi Williams, whose daughter is gay, was “horrified and scared” when she and her wife decided to have a baby with the help of a male friend they barely knew. But then, Tammi says, everything changed.
Grandparents are younger than you think
The media paints grandparents as old, but studies show most of them aren’t.
Do you dream of living near your grandkids?
There are a lot of good reasons to move closer to your grandkids. Then again, there are some good reasons to stay where you are. I asked some grandparents who made the move what happened next.
A grandma and her grandson learn to swim
Mary Walker and her 17-year-old grandson are taking swimming lessons together at a pool in Tulsa, Okla.
To nurture your family, nurture yourself
Parents and grandparents need one another. How can they learn to get along?
The Grandmother’s Gallery of Art
A grandma in Massachusetts saves “every single thing” her granddaughters scribble, paint, sculpt, and glue.