The year in grandparents
The best stories from my site and beyond in 2019.
The grandmas who snorkel with snakes
Some days, they take care of their grandchildren. Other days, they prowl the bottom of the sea in search of venomous snakes.
He’s taking his 89-year-old grandma to each and every national park
Joy Ryan had never seen the ocean or climbed a mountain. Then her grandson took her on the road.
Bonobo moms play matchmaker for their sons
An adult male bonobo who lives with his mother is three times more likely to become a father than one who’s gone his own way.
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.
Of baby birds and their grandparents
So far, grandparent care has been observed in only one bird species: the Seychelles Warbler, which inhabits five small islands in the Indian Ocean.
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.
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 very best books about the very best season
For kids, summer means freedom. These books beautifully capture that.
Whales need grandmas, too
Female orcas who’ve undergone menopause play a critical role in helping their extended families find food, particularly during times of scarcity, scientists have learned.
Boys, grandparents, and “the best week ever”
A picture book about what happens when parents get out of the way.
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.
“Grandma’s love is what made Grandma’s garden grow”
A moving new song by country music star Zac Brown.
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.
Margaret Mead learned everything from her grandma
The legendary anthropologist Margaret Mead was homeschooled for most of her childhood by her grandmother, an iconoclast who rejected rote instruction as “stultifying” and emphasized learning by doing instead.
In elephant families, Grandma is boss
A family of elephants is led by its eldest female, who’s often a grandma many times over. And the older she is, the better, scientists have learned.
Help a child to wonder
It’s not important that children know about nature, Rachel Carson believed; what matters is that they delight in it. But they won’t unless they’re shown the way, she warned.
A grandma, a girl, and their secret world
“We’d make tiny boats of walnut shells, line them with moss, and float them down the streams, where we were sure the fairies would climb aboard.”