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.
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 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.
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.
Five myths about grandparents that it’s time to trash
Let’s ditch the stereotypes and start embracing the truth instead.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Could your grandkids get by without you?
A sociologist spent years interviewing grandparents who give a ton of time and money to their grandkids, often because their grown children are struggling.
“I am so exhausted at the end of the day I can barely move”
A grandmother in Oklahoma finds babysitting both magical and tiring.
The secret to this mother’s success is her own mother
If you have to bring your kids along on business trips, it helps to bring their grandma, too.
Three generations. Three species. One home.
My sister’s family tried living at my parents’ house. Chaos ensued.
Is grandmotherhood intensifying?
Instead of just spoiling their grandchildren, many grandmothers now make significant contributions to their daily care, says Madonna Harrington Meyer, a sociologist at Syracuse.
Calvin Trillin, grandfather: He babysits. He spoils. He turns the kids into movie stars.
When he’s not writing some of the best humor and journalism of our time, Trillin spends a lot of time grandparenting.