What do Okinawans know that we don’t?
The five places in the world where people live the longest are also places where elders spend a good deal of their time tending vegetable gardens.
Is mental illness the biggest problem facing teens?
Seventy percent of American teens see anxiety and depression as “major problems” among their peers, according to a new study.
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.
More myths about grandparents that it’s time to trash
Many stereotypes about grandparents are wrong.
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.
We have this woman to thank for Grandparents Day
A housewife from West Virginia fought for years to get a national holiday for grandparents declared. In 1978, she won.
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.
“Why I train grandmothers to treat depression”
Depression is common in Zimbabwe. Psychiatrists are not. So grandmothers are being trained to step in.
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.
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.”
Do grandparents wake up early to keep their families safe?
New research suggests that our ancestors stayed safe at night thanks to the divergent sleep habits of the young and the old.
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.
“What the elders see while sitting, the young ones standing on their toes won’t see”
Proverbs about grandparenting from around the world.
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.
For grandparents raising grandchildren, is help finally on the way?
The Senate is considering a bill to assist the more than 2.5 million American grandparents who are raising at least one of their grandchildren.
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.
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.
Where do the happiest grandparents live?
Older adults in the United States enjoy greater well-being than younger ones, but they’re faring far better in some states than in others, according to a recent survey.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.”
Why isn’t there more help for grandparents raising grandkids?
Nearly three million American grandparents are raising at least one of their grandkids, but there’s hardly anywhere they can turn for support. Here are the best national resources I’ve come across.
“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.
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.
Let’s stop pretending grandparents just bake cookies
Isn’t it time we discarded the myths and misconceptions about grandparents and started giving them their due?
Is grandparenting good for you?
Babysitting for grandkids may boost your wellbeing, but if you’re pressured into providing care, you may suffer.
Why stepgrandparents matter
“Standing at one remove from the new partnership, and all the hue and cry the blending of a family can involve, they have the potential to play a unique role for the stepgrandchild—part grandparent, part wise, trusted confidante.”
My hero
Maybe I would have made it through my 20s without him. But, to be honest, I can’t imagine how.
To nurture your family, nurture yourself
Parents and grandparents need one another. How can they learn to get along?
Are Chinese-American grandparents under too much stress?
Chinese Americans often devote long hours to their grandchildren, but many of them experience this as a burden, a new study reveals.
“I grew up with the possibility of magic”
Isabel Allende, a novelist with millions of readers around the world, says her grandparents shaped both her character and her career.
In army families, grandparents are heroes, too
A letter from a grateful mother whose husband was deployed a dozen times.
British grandparents may get a break
Politicians in Britain have realized that grandparents are struggling to balance work and childcare just as parents are.
