One of the joys of aging is the privilege of grandparenting. If one takes seriously the fundamental precept that engaging in healthy activities helps one age well, the opportunity to support children and grandchildren is right up there on the keeping-healthy scale. At first, way back last March, it did not seem like isolation would … Continue reading
Filed under Grandchildren …
Grandparents Helping With Grandchildren
My husband and I spend a fair amount of time, usually more than one day each week, helping my elderly parents in various ways. However, for several days every other month, we take time off from supporting the elder generation and focus our energy on the young adult members of my family and their son … Continue reading
Whose Eyes Are Checking Out That Digital Content?
In his recent post over at the Changing Aging blog, Kavan Peterson describes a short video, Forwarders. Intended as a parody of people who continuously forward e-mail, the video reinforces stereotypes about elders and aging. It’s sad that this short film focuses solely on one older adult, especially since so many people of all ages … Continue reading
Read More on Green House® Homes
I’ve just read the post, Two New Green House Stories, over at Allen Power’s blog. His post tells a story that illustrates how Green House® “at home” expectations and environment make an enormous qualitative difference for an aging senior. And be sure to read far enough along to get to the mattress anecdote — it ‘s a hoot. … Continue reading
Apropos of Distracted Driving, Children, and Cell Phones
In light of my previous post about the apparent extra protective layer that grandparents have when they drive their grandchildren around, I decided to post this BMW distracted driving advertisement. I believe that telephones and texting play a big role in parents’ accidents these days. I wrote a longer post about the this BMW video … Continue reading
Are Kids Safer When Grandparents Drive?
I’ve just read an thought-provoking research article from the journal, Pediatrics, Grandparents Driving Grandchildren: An Evaluation of Child Passenger Safety and Injuries (freely available, PDF full text or abstract. As a part of this study, the researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School collected insurance data on 11,850 children who … Continue reading
More on Kids, Tech, Social Media, and Grandparents!
Great article in the Wall Street Journal about kids and grandparents and the ways they are communicating with one another. In her May 9, 2001 article, OMG! My Grandparents R My BFF!, reporter Molly Baker takes readers on a “magical mystery tour” highlighting the ways generations are interacting (and sometimes leaving out the generation in the middle). You … Continue reading
Grandparents, Parents, Grandchildren: Family Blogging?
How would digital literacy and behavior improve if more families saw blogging as a way to communicate, share, and connect with extended family members, as well as teach children, parents, and grandparents the basics about global communication? Would they be thrilled that their younger family members had a big head start developing digital citizenship skills? … Continue reading
Wages Going Down-Will Children and Grandchildren Have Social Security?
Commentary by Robert Reich, Lower Wages Won’t Lead to Recovery, on NPR’s Marketplace radio program. I wonder how different the world is becoming for seniors’ children and grandchildren? Lower wages mean lower or no benefits. It was all so simple in the growth-fueled years of our aging parent’s middle years, but now it’s not so simple. … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Bodies Slower but Same World View
Aging parents, we should all understand, have frustratingly aging bodies, yet many are seeing and perceiving the world just as they always have. In fact, I’ve heard them say how curious it is to look in the mirror and see themselves staring back. Some wonder, “Who is that old person looking back at me?” About 25 … Continue reading
Medicare Donut (Doughnut) Hole-Health Insurance Coverage/Young Adult Kids
See links to other posts related to Medicare at the end of this posting. Many of us caring for the health of aging parents are simultaneously worrying about our children—young adults trying to enter the job market who have no health insurance coverage. Even before the recession we worried because so many of our young … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age 