Author: Diane Stirling

Are close relationships possible for grandparents and grandchildren who don’t live geographically close? Grandparents who live at a distance should not be worried if their contact with grandchildren isn’t daily or weekly, says Alice Sterling Honig, professor emerita of child development, Falk College at Syracuse University. What’s important is personalizing the interaction that happens when grandparent and grandchild are together. “Be glad of how much love you can exchange just by doing things with them,” she says. “If they want to play Candy Land or Parcheesi, play it with them, bike ride with them. Do something personal that’s really dependent…

“I didn’t plan on having four girls — I daydreamed it would be all boys.” But his daughters taught him more about perspective than he ever expected.