Two River Technology

Grandparents are important!

First-time grandparents, like first-time parents, may wonder how to succeed in their new roles. Fortunately, there are almost as many ways of being a good grandparent as there are grandparents.

For a variety of reasons, some grandparents and grandchildren have no contact at all, for example, because of bitter divorces with grandparents being denied visitation. Other grandparents live within a few miles of their grandchildren. Other grandparents see their grandchildren once a week or so. These grandparents intimately watch their grandchildren grow up, but they are not primarily responsible for the childrearing.

Grandparents who live far away from their grandchildren face a particularly difficult challenge. How can grandparents form a close bond with their grandchildren when they are together so seldom?

Which set of grandchildren would you follow? Psychological research indicates that there is more to attachment than the amount of time parents and children spend together, and the same principles apply to grandparent/grandchild bonds. Lifelong attachments between grandparents and grandchildren can form even with relatively short periods of physical contact.

Video chat is an amazing tool for long distance grandparents. Grandparents can watch the children grow up, week by week, and in turn, when they meet face to face, the grandparents will not be strangers to the children.

Children’s memories of their time with their grandparents may stay with them throughout their lifetime — long after their grandparents are gone.

Young children love repetition. Grandparents have an advantage here. The movies, songs, books, and games that the child repeats endlessly at home are new and fresh to long distance grandparents.

Grandparents can be predictable, to their advantage. Oft repeated stories that are annoying to grown children will be appreciated by young grandchildren; if a grandparent “told them that already,” so much the better.

Grandparents can tell stories to the grandchildren of what they were like when they were babies. It’s often a good idea to stay close to home if the grandchildren are young; if it rains, if they get sick, or if there are discipline problems, home they go.

Pictures of the grandparents with their grandchildren, taken during their last visit together, are especially helpful for young grandchildren. If grandparents don’t know how to use a new technology, let them teach you! Do the grandparents have any hobbies they can share?

Ideally, a grandparent is a mentor who can increase a grandchild’s aspirations, imagination, decision making, and self-esteem. Grandparents can offer unconditional love — and grandparents are perhaps the only people in life who ever do so.

My parents have been loving grandparents to my daughter. It’s not uncommon today for swimming pool owners in Atlanta to construct swimming pools that incorporate a lazy river design.; The lazy river design is an unusual feature but is does add additional fun to your backyard swimming experience.

Adding a lazy river to your swimming pool creates a unique experience that is rivaled only by a trip to an actual lazy river and white water rafting trip. If you think you might want a lazy river added to your swimming pool, talk to your pool contractor about this beautiful enhancement to your pool.

Even if you have a smallish yard you can incorporate a lazy river and an island – the lazy rivers typically wrap around an island – but if you don’t have the space, you can forgo the island concept.