At this South Korean school, children and their grandmas learn together
Faced with declining enrollment, an elementary school in rural South Korea is welcoming grandmothers, many of whom were not permitted to attend school when they were girls.
I believe that children in this country need a more robust literary diet than they are getting. It does not hurt them to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death. Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand. ‘A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.’ So should a child’s … I will never talk down to—or draw down to—children.
Barbara Cooney (1917-2000)
What do you know now that you wish you’d known then?
I asked grandparents around the country what they wish they’d known—but didn’t—when their first grandchild was born. Here are some of my favorite responses.
What to do if your grandson is a mermaid
Subtly and artfully, this picture book depicts the bond between a boy who’s questioning his gender identity and his steady, open-minded grandma.
“I was worried about my grandkids”
Marian Shields Robinson didn’t want to move to Washington, D.C. when her daughter, Michelle Obama, became First Lady in 2009. But her grandchildren, Sasha and Malia, were only seven and ten, and Marian was worried about them, she said in a recent interview with Gayle King of CBS This Morning.
“It’s been like dying and going to heaven”
Earlier this year, I published a long story about a grandmother in Houston, Stephanie Johnson, who had lost access to her grandson after her daughter was murdered and who was fighting in court to be reunited with him. Here’s an update on Stephanie’s plight.
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.
When your grandma is Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Clara Spera recently graduated from law school. Her inspiration was her grandmother, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Because of his grandma, Gabriel García Márquez knew magic was real
Until he was eight, Gabriel García Márquez was raised by his maternal grandparents and a bevy of aunts and servants in Aracataca, Colombia, a small town near the Caribbean Sea that he fictionalized in his most famous novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. “I cannot imagine a family environment more favorable to my vocation than that lunatic house,” he later wrote.
She lost her daughter to murder. Will her grandson be taken from her, too?
A grieving mother seeks justice.
The best movies about kids and their grandparents
Most movies put grandparents on the sidelines, when they put them anywhere at all. Here are some great ones that give them their due.
How grandparents prevent kids from being ageist
Children who see their grandparents at least once a week and describe these visits as “happy” are much less likely than their peers to buy into negative stereotypes about elders, a new study suggests.
The best picture books about kids and their grandparents
These books aren’t just stunningly written and illustrated. They also perceptively observe the complexities of the new American family.
The woman with 10,000 grandkids
Many kids in India are growing up far from their grandparents, so a grandma in Bangalore is using her smartphone to tell them bedtime stories.
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.
If you’re worried about your grandkid, speak up, scientists say
Grandparents often suspect autism before parents do, but they sometimes hesitate to voice their concern, a new study reveals.
“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.
Happy Chanukah!
A New Jersey family marks the holiday each year with lights, cookies, and a party in honor of a long-lost matriarch.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: A grandpa’s very tall tale
This picture book celebrates both the bond between kids and their grandparents and the transcendent power of a story well told.
“Grandmammy was all the world to me”
Though Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, he was “a spirited, joyous, uproarious, and happy boy,” thanks to his grandma, who raised and protected him.
Happy Halloween!
Thanks to Craig and Tina Abernethy of San Diego for submitting this shot of themselves with their granddaughter, Calla, on Halloween last year.
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.
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.
How can grandparents help kids with autism?
The monumental stress of raising a child with autism can be eased by grandparents, who are often “ideally suited” to provide parents with support, scholars say.
The grandparents who raised an Olympic champion
When she was six, Simone Biles was adopted by her grandparents. Now, she’s the best gymnast in the world.
The very best books about the very best season
For kids, summer means freedom. These books beautifully capture that.
A writer, her granddaughters, and the magic of Sicily
Francine Prose returns to an island she fell in love with years ago.
Boys, grandparents, and “the best week ever”
A picture book about what happens when parents get out of the way.
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.
How to cook like an Italian grandma
You’ll need some olive oil, a good butcher, and this recipe for Neapolitan ragù.
The ultimate Easter egg
A retired pastry chef in Texas surprised his great-grandchildren on Easter with this one-of-a-kind confection.
The best picture books about spring
I spent the final weeks of winter reading all the picture books I could find about spring. Here are my favorites. They’re simple, they’re deep, and they’re as gorgeous as the season.
How Miss Rumphius made the world more beautiful
In this extraordinary picture book, a girl’s grandfather inspires her to live well and do good.
“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.
What Eleanor Roosevelt gave her granddaughter
After her husband died in 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt traveled the world as a diplomat, speaker, and activist. But she was never too busy for her granddaughter.
“I think I know my grandfather now”
As a boy, Allen Say barely knew his grandpa. As a man, he came to understand him. That’s why he created Grandfather’s Journey, a picture book for which he won the Caldecott Medal in 1994.
“Her mind was as sharp as ever”
Would her grandma remember her? Jane Kim, 41, wasn’t sure. It had been 23 years since she’d last visited her in Korea, and she was nearly 100 years old.
Grandparents matter. Here’s how.
Grandparents matter in profound, enduring, and sometimes unexpected ways. That’s what I learned from these recordings, which were made by three American families for the oral history project StoryCorps.
How to interview your grandparents
“Imagine it: During the holidays, instead of using gadgets to ignore each other, we might use them as an excuse to look each other in the eye and listen.”
“Over the river, and through the wood”
The story behind the famous poem about a boy who’s bursting with excitement to see his grandparents on Thanksgiving.
“My grandchildren are the best medicine for whatever might ail me”
When Marsha Boyer was diagnosed with cancer, she feared her grandkids would never know her. Here’s what happened next.