GRAND Magazine - September/October 2013 - (Page 58-59)

grandparenting LoL The ABCs of grandparenting: Who’s teaching whom? by DIANA J. eWING Diana J. ewing, of Laguna Niguel, california, spent 30 years in advertising and public relations before venturing into humor writing with her first book, The Baby Boomers’ Guide to Grandparenting. 58 GRAND september october 2013 check my vitals, you can share vintage expressions like hang loose, neato, and catch you on the flip side. They all make equal sense. Or no sense at all. Our grandchildren are soaking up information a million times faster than we ever did because they’ve got a zillion times more to learn. These youngsters are under pressure to be on the road to success at an early age, but nobody expected us to start planning for AP classes while we were still watching Romper Room or Ding Dong School. Imagine what we could’ve accomplished at a much younger age if Mom and Dad had pushed us the way today’s parents do. Today, little Caleb and Sophia are starting to read, write, and find their way around cyberspace at the unbelievably early age of three or four. We can’t begin to keep up. We can only hope they’ll share some of their wisdom with us. In fact, you might have experienced the major intergenerational shift that’s already occurring because so many of today’s grandparents require child supervision when operating the endless progression of new tech gadgets. Yes, like all the grandparents who came before, we have an abundance of know-how to share with our grandchildren. But these days it’s definitely a twoway street. In a world advancing at breakneck speed, grandkids are the key to our continuing education. pHoto creDIt: ©AUremAr I f there’s a generation gap between you and your children, there must be a generation Grand Canyon between you and your grandchildren. But that’s part of what connects us with these chips-off-the-chips-offthe-old-block. Our life experiences and scope of knowledge are so far removed from theirs that we can learn a lot from each other. You can tell your grandkids about be-ins and loveins, and they can tell you about the flash mob they saw at the plaza. Mob? Oh, dear. Was anybody injured? No, they assure you. “It’s just for fun. Everybody wore blue, and they were dancing. Look, here’s the cell phone video we took.” Anytime these in-the-know guys and gals throw unfamiliar lingo your way, such as chillax, frenemy, or september october 2013 GRAND 59 http://www.mybabyboomersguide.com http://www.mybabyboomersguide.com http://www.mybabyboomersguide.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - September/October 2013

GRAND Magazine - September/October 2013
Contents
Congratulations 2013 GRANDparent of the Year Honorees!
Hooray for Grandparents, Ingenuity, and ICE!
GRAND Magazine Best of the Web Awards
Rockin’ the World
Leaving a Legacy
Don Miguel Ruiz: Our Sacred Agreement to Grandchildren
Keepsakes from the Heart
Do Kids Under 5 Get Too Much Screen Time?
Let the Learning Games Begin!
Falling into the Grandma Zone
A Special Grandmother
Ducky Butt, Not Tucky Butt!
GRAND Sponsor: ClearSounds Communications
Terrific Tech Gadgets for the Whole Family
The ABCs of Grandparenting: Who’s Teaching Whom?
Can Bribery Warm a Cold Shoulder?
Keep Your Marriage from Becoming a Casualty of Caregiving
Hidden Treasures

GRAND Magazine - September/October 2013