Coach Myrna
  • Home
  • Coaching With Myrna
  • Blog
  • Create Connection
  • Prepare Enrich
  • Adult Children
  • Energy Work
  • Contact Me

​

​

​On our journey in life, the most profound thing that we can offer others--
partners, children, parents, friends, co-workers, bosses, neighbors--
is our own healing and growth towards being a more loving person.
​To sign up for the weekly newsletter:
​
​www.coachmyrna.org/home.html#Signup-Form

Being A Grandparent May Be Your Greatest Legacy

12/12/2021

 
Picture
Once our adult children become parents, we naturally want to develop and nurture healthy, loving and enjoyable relationships with our grandchildren. Grandparenting can be our second chance to give what we missed giving the first time around. What greater legacy could there be than leaving one of love for our grandchildren? Grandparenting experts Tim and Darcy Kimmel, authors of Extreme Grandparenting have said, "We are the link to the past, the anchor to the present and the bridge to the future."

Currently, my husband and I are reading Doing Life With Your Adult Children--Keep Your Mouth Shut & The Welcome Mat Out by Jim Burns and we have discovered a great deal of wisdom throughout this book on topics such as: 
  • Your role as a the parent must change
  • Unsolicited advice is usually taken as criticism
  • Discover the difference in the culture of these emerging adults
  • Your job is to help them move from dependence to independence

One of the most interesting chapters for me was "Being a Grandparent May Be Your Biggest Legacy. I especially enjoyed the suggestions on connecting with and influencing our grandkids. The list below is adapted from Chapter 9 of Jim Burns' book.
  • Be present. Be fun. Be generous: Our presence as grandparents matters whether we live nearby and can take them to the park and attend their activities or we keep in touch virtually. Be the grandparent who sends a text to say hi or tell a joke. Make a weekly or monthly time to connect in person or on zoom. Find a way that works for you to read regularly with your grandkids. Keep a stash of books at your home or in a bag in the car for when you visit them. Go to the local library together. Here is a link with a load of suggestions for reading in-person or virtually and it includes book suggestions for different ages and by genre: imaginationsoup.net/tips-grandparents-grandkids-read
  • Make lifelong memories and traditions: If your children & grandchildren live close, have a weekly meal or outing together. Plan an annual vacation together. Create a special closet, shelf, drawer or corner in your home that has things just for grandkids to play with. How about a special trip with you and your grandchild when they become a teenager (13)? For more ideas on this topic for parents or grandparents, visit one of my past blogs.  www.coachmyrna.org/coachmyrna-blog/july-12th-2018
  • Offer grace--constantly:  Our job as grandparents is not to give advice but to praise and support. Offering grace is more powerful than pointing out mistakes. This can be especially healing if we look back on raising our own children and realize that we were sometimes too tough on them.
  • Celebrate everything: Look for opportunities to acknowledge important days in the lives of our grandchildren--birthdays, graduations, first day of kindergarten or a new job, school or work promotions, etc. Again, Jim Burns says it beautifully, "As you celebrate and recognize the rites of passage in your grandkids' lives, you weave a beautiful memory into your heart and theirs; a memory that you were present and cheered them on." 
  • Recognizing your role as a mentor: We have experiences and wisdom that our grandchildren cannot get from anyone else. When we are present in their lives, we can be a safe and secure place that allows our grandchildren to be themselves and offers support, comfort, hope and perspective.
  • Keep supporting your adult children in their role as parents: Jim Burns says, "Your relationship with your adult children is the single most important gateway to your grandchildren." We have to let our children raise our grandchildren their way, even if we think that it is wrong. It is important to let go of thinking that we have all the answers and offer our adult children the grace that they need to be confident parents. Consider giving them 7 Gifts to Give Your Child: Parenting That Will Touch Their Future as a present to allow them to discover more wisdom for themselves.  www.coachmyrna.org/7-gifts-to-give-your-child.html




Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    Begin Anew 4 Steps
    Being A Grandparent
    Celebrating Holidays
    Child Development Stages
    Coaching
    Communication
    Community
    Digital Age Parenting
    Finance For Kids
    Healing Ourselves
    Life Goals
    Parenting
    Parenting Adult Children
    Relationship
    Self Care
    Teens/young Adults
    The Brain
    What Children Need To Grow

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

Home

Coaching With Myrna

Blog

​​Prepare Enrich

​​Create Connection
Copyright © 2025
  • Home
  • Coaching With Myrna
  • Blog
  • Create Connection
  • Prepare Enrich
  • Adult Children
  • Energy Work
  • Contact Me