AARP’s North Dakota “Why I Love My Grandparents” Essay Contest

North Dakota’s AARP is now sponsoring a “Why I Love My Grandparents” Essay Contest.  For more information, follow this link.

New Jersey Bill S2975

The National Committee of Grandparents for Children’s Rights is very excited to announce that after lots of hard work and long hours writing the New Jersey Bill S2975, Senator Weinberg announced the bill.  The bill will establish new standards for New Jersey courts to grant sibling or grandparent visitation rights under certain circumstances.

What Are You Reading This Summer?

Now that it is officially summer, do you have any books you really want to read?  Or, are there any books that you enjoy reading over and over my personal favorite is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom)?  How many of these books do you read with your grandchild/grandchildren?

Here are my favorites:

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• The Three Little Dassies by Jan Brett
• The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
• The Rainbow Fish Series by Marcus Pfister and J. Alison James
• Stellaluna by Jannell Cannon

Susan Dove Lempke, a writer for Niles Patch came out with a list of fun summer books for children, parents, and grandparents to read together.  Here is her list:

• It’s Vacation Time by Lerryn Korda
• Hooray for Summer by Kazuo Iwamura
• The Longest Day by Wendy Pfeffer
• A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee
• All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

For more of Lempke’s article, follow this link.

 

 

“You Have One New Friend Request”

The other day, we blogged about Skype and the impact that it has had on grandparents.  Today, it is time to blog about Facebook and various other social networking services that are becoming more and more popular among grandparents and other adults.

Did you know that 22% of grandparents use some sort of social networking service (Loveland)?  It’s true!  These social networking services, Facebook in particular, have been a great way to link grandparents with their grandchildren.  Social networking services also allow grandparents and grandchildren who live far away from each other to communicate very easily.

As the Baby Boomers are becoming grandparents, they are having a much easier time keeping up with Facebook and other social networking services (Phillips).

Finally, you may want to think about the pictures and information on your social networking sites.  If it’s embarrassing or inappropriate, would you really want you grandparents to see it?

Information Taken From:

Loveland, Mariel. “STUDY: 22 Percent Of Grandparents Use Social Networks, Facebook Among Most Popular Networks.” Scribbal – Social Media News. 23 June 2011. Web. 24 June 2011. <http://www.scribbal.com/2011/06/study-22-percent-of-grandparents-use-social-networks-facebook-among-most-popular-networks/&gt;.

Phillips, James Lee. “Friending Grandma: More Likely Than Ever – International Business Times.” International Business News, Financial News, Market News, Politics, Forex, Commodities – International Business Times – IBTimes.com. 24 June 2011. Web. 24 June 2011. <http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/169063/20110624/friending-grandma-more-likely-than-ever.htm&gt;.

Are You Going to the Kinship Care Solutions Project Training?

If you live in Seattle, Washington, have you heard about the Kinship Care Solutions Project Training?  You should think about attending the training.  To get more information, follow this link: http://www.probonodicta.org/2011/kinship-care/new-volunteer-training-kinship-care-solutions-project-training/

Do You Know If You Can Fight For Visitation Rights?

Many grandparents do not necessarily know if they can pursue visitation rights of their grandchildren.  In California, and many other states, there are statutes and different pieces of case law that allow grandparents to fight for visitation of their grandchildren.

Using California as a prime example, we can learn that case law and statutory law is constantly evolving when it comes to allowing grandparents to fight for their visitation rights.  In many cases, the grandparents, lawyers, and judges all look at what is best for the child, or the children, who are involved.

For more on California visitation rights, follow this link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/06/22/prweb8460209.DTL

How many of you know if you can pursue visitation rights in your state?  If you don’t, that is okay!  If you would like to know, give us a call at 518-833-0215.

Grandparents in Minnesota are Facing Visitation Hurdles

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals in Minnesota ruled that a grandmother or grandfather of a child does not have the same rights that a father or mother of a child has.  One of the judges who took part in writing the decision for this case believes that grandparents shouldn’t be treated as parents when it comes to custody of grandchildren.  For more on this case, follow this link: http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/124233038.html

Technology and Grandparenting: What’s the Importance?

In the past few years, technology has brought many people much closer together.  For instance, Skype, a widely known webcamming service, allows people to communicate using a camera on their computer with a person who is across the room, or across the world, from their original location.

Skype has enabled grandparents and grandchildren to communicate in ways that were impossible before it’s creation.  The use of a service such as Skype gives the grandparents and the grandchildren a real-time image of what is happening and the users can communicate “face to face” or by using “eye contact”.  Skype, and similar services, are bringing families, especially grandparents and grandchildren, much closer together.

For more on this story, follow this link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/21/2964023/technology-keeps-us-close-grandparents.html

Kinship Care Report from the UK

The UK has recently released a report on Kinship Care.  If you are interested, follow this link: http://www.buttleuk.org/news.php/30/extent-of-kinship-care-revealed-for-the-first-time

How Are Baby Boomers Changing Grandparenting?

In the past few years, baby boomers have been becoming grandparents.  In fact, 32 million Baby Boomers are now grandparents.  These grandparents aren’t necessarily old and wrinkly, but they are young and “hip”.  Baby Boomer grandparents are also preferring to be called “modern” names and not “Grandma” or “Grandpa”.  Instead, grandchildren and families are using names such as “Papa John”, “Glam-Ma”, “Nonna”, etc.

Changing and modernizing what we call our grandparents is just one way that Baby Boomers are changing grandparenting.  Baby Boomers who are becoming grandparents are young.  According to the AARP, the average age of first grandparenthood is now 47.

Being so young enables these first-time grandparents to keep up with the technology that their grandchildren are using.  The younger grandparents are also more physically active and can take part in very active parts in their grandchildren’s lives.
How do you feel about all of this?

For more on this story, click here, or click this link.