6 new novels about kids and their grandparents
In these recent novels for preteens—by some of the best children’s authors of our time—grandparents give kids the inspiration, strength, and love they need to navigate a perilous world.
The year in grandparents
In 2018, I wrote about a caravan of grandparents who stormed the Texas-Mexico border to protest Trump’s treatment of migrant children, Gabriel García Márquez’s memories of his grandmother, and many other topics.
“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.
Why does Trump want to keep children and their grandparents apart?
Many immigrant parents seek to bring their own parents here to help with childcare while they toil in grueling jobs, two sociologists recently wrote in The New York Times. President Trump wants to stop them.
Trump thinks this grandma is a threat to our country
Trump’s travel ban has torn apart thousands of families. Here is the story of one of them.
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.
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.
“What the elders see while sitting, the young ones standing on their toes won’t see”
Check out these proverbs to see how grandparenthood varies across cultures.
The grandmas Trump has banned
A new Instagram feed celebrates the Muslim grandparents in the Middle East and Africa who are now banned from visiting their grandkids in the United States.
“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.
Does how often you see your grandkids affect how long you live?
In the first study of its kind, a team of scientists has found that grandparents who provide regular care for their grandchildren have an edge on survival over those who don’t.
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.
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.
Five myths about grandparents that it’s time to trash
Let’s ditch the stereotypes and start embracing the truth instead.
“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.