Tips for Grandparents!
Grandparents, you have the ability to very directly help your grandchildren build stronger brains and a sense of being emotionally secure. Babies learn by interacting with trusted adults. You are one of the most trusted caregivers in their lives. You love your grandchildren and they know that you love them. That makes you a trusted adult in their lives. Children need trusted adults doing the right things in those key months and years for both brain growth and emotional anchors.
For that reason, your role can be very important to the learning development of your grandchild and your role with them can obviously be extremely pleasant for you as well.
Grandparents are among the most important and special people in a child’s life
Enjoy being special and do things to show your grandchild how much love and acceptance you have for them. If you are the primary caregiver for your grandchild, please read all of the advice to parents on this website. These tools can be of use to you.
In any case, you might want to share the book “Three Key Years” and this website with your children and with other family members and regular baby sitters to help them all understand why it is so important to provide that level of comfort, support and direct interaction to your grandchild in those first months and years.
And have huge fun. Many grandparents make the joke that if they had only known how much fun grandchildren were, they would have started there and skipped the hard parts in between. Some people are not joking when they say that. Being a grandparent can be a wonderful thing.
We actually can’t start with grandchildren, but we can enjoy our grandchildren hugely when we are blessed with having them and we can do things that make their lives better in important ways.
Enjoy and celebrate and know that you can make a difference for someone you love.
As a grandparent, you can share an extra special gift
Understanding and sharing what you can learn about how to help your grandchild to build a stronger brain is a special gift to share. Please explore the sections below for more information about the important roles you play in your grandchildren’s lives.
Be a Loving Trusted Adult
Babies develop important emotional stability from birth by interacting with loving, trusted adults. As a grandparent, your relationship is second in emotional importance only to that of a child’s relationship with their parent.
Learn the New Brain Science
Learning about the importance of direct, positive interaction in the first three key years of a baby’s life helps build stronger brains.
Be the Family Storyteller
You have a special opportunity to share stories about yourself through the years. It’s also a great time to share stories about the many heroes in your family’s tree.
