When a grandchild lives far away, it’s hard to stay involved as a grandparent. You don’t get the easy, informal times together. Especially when they are little, you wonder if they will really know who you are.
Technology tools can help to compensate –Skype video calls are wonderful. We got a thrill when our 17-month old grandson waved to us at the end of a Skype session. Facebook is a great way to share photos. I’ve read about grandparents who play online Scrabble or chess with their grandchildren. I’m looking forward to that in a few years.
But my favorite idea, suggested by a friend, is low-tech. He writes letters to his granddaughter – paper letters delivered by snail mail. She saves them and may very well still have them when she is grown. Even a three-year old will be excited when a letter arrives just for them. You can enclose drawings, photos, and pictures from magazines. They may all end up in a shoe box that someone will treasure years from now.
If you have any other ideas for distance grandparenting, please chime in.
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We grew up a few states away from our grandmother (Vonnie), but always felt like she was very active in our lives. What’s more, she always made sure that we knew what was going on in her life.
Each summer my sister and I would go to visit her, sometimes at her home, sometimes in some other part of the country. Before these visits Vonnie would put together a scrapbook of everything we would be doing with her there. This scrapbook would include pictures of the house we would be staying in, the parks we would be walking to, the ice cream shop we would be visiting, the museums she might take us to, etc.
Vonnie would send the scrapbook a week-or-so before our departure so that our parents could read it to us. My sister and I would pour over the photos.
Then, when we arrived for our visit, we would immediately recognize our surroundings. Being able to recognize and feel so familiar with all these brand-new places made us feel safe and secure, and very special. Vonnie always knew how to make us feel special, even from far away.