Grandparents are both our past and our future. In some ways, they are what has gone before, and in others, they are what we will become.

Grandparents can be a deeply confirming presence to a young child. In a relationship with a grandparent, a child can be freed of a lot of the daily expectations that are part of home life that are necessary for growth at home. A grandparent is a very special kind of ally in a child's search for an identity that includes being lovable and loving.

We Were All Little Once Too

And the presence of a grandparent confirms that parents were, indeed, little once, too, and that people who are little can grow to be big, can become parents, and one day even have grandchildren of their own. So often we think of grandparents as belonging to the past, but in this important way, grandparents for a young child, belong to the future.

Here are Some Ways to Help your Child Better Appreciate Relationships with Grandparents:

• Make a family tree to help your children understand the connection with grandparents, as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins.
• Encourage your child to do an "oral history" of the grandparents on an audio recording or videotape. Children might be interested in what toys grandparents played with as children, what they did with friends, what they did at holiday times -- funny stories about mommy or daddy when they were little.
• Visit the library and look for books about grandparents. There are books from every culture about that special relationship.
• If you're a grandparent and have a favorite recipe, make it with your grandchild. Food and love are connected, and working alongside you to make a favorite food can create loving memories that last a lifetime.
• If you're grandparenting from afar, now and then send little notes, cards, or postcards. Children enjoy getting mail addressed to them.

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