Eva-Maria: Quick Tips for Grandparents Raising Teen Grandchildren

 Read more from Eva-Maria here.

Today I’d like to throw in a couple of points for raising teenage grandchildren today... keep in mind that these can also really help any relatives, or caregivers too!

1. Play it as simple as you can – no fancy parenting shenanigans from books needed. “I love you” is all it takes to confuse and make a screaming, yelling, tantrum teen think about the impact of their actions/tone of voice on you.

2. Get them involved in your world. My grandma taught me how to apply eyeliner in one stroke – a simple trick she knew, but I swear it still amazes my girl friends even to this day! Among other things, I really loved it when she taught me how to knit, paint, and especially how she can probably feed an entire army from leftovers in the fridge. That was super cool!

3. Share your stories. Hearing ‘back in the day’ stuff just does something really cool – it makes us feel a bit more grateful about today’s world, and a bit more sympathetic and open to the world our grandparents experienced. I LOVE it when my grandparents tell us about the war, and their parents. That is SO AWESOME!

4. Don’t feel discouraged – feel encouraged! You have a lot to teach us, and we may sometimes forget it...sometimes because we don’t have much time to hear you out. Share as much as you can – whenever there’s a dinner, a second of silence, anything – we need to keep learning from you, even if we don’t admit it – the only way we can go forward in the future is if we’re educated enough about the past to repeat the good things, and avoid the mistakes. We appreciate and want to learn from you, even if you don’t know what Bebo is : )

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Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust

Last week in Auckland I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting a very inspiring lady, Diane.

She set up the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust in New Zealand after pin pointing the great demand and need for extra support for grandparents who are raising grandchildren on their own, due to family difficulties, and other issues.

An admirable initiative, this is THE place to be for grandparents raising grandchildren, or even for grandparents to simply find support among others like them to bring bright, loved and caring individuals within our children into the world!

I strongly suggest you look it up, and add your support, kind words, or even join with this great community!

www.raisinggrandchildren.org.nz

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Happy Grandparenting! :)

Eva-Maria
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Published 15th Sep 2009

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