GRAND Magazine - Summer 2021 - 26

grandparenting
There are other nonprofits that set up one- or twoweek
projects of building a school, digging an irrigation
system, organizing a health clinic, or providing micro-lending
for new small business ideas-projects that families
can participate in during the Christmas holidays or during
school vacation periods in the spring or summer. Two of
our favorite nonprofit organizations that are very good
at organizing such expeditions are Rising Star Outreach,
which builds and runs schools for leprosy-affected children
in southern India, and Choice Humanitarian, which
sets up water, educational, and agricultural projects in
Mexico, Nepal, and other third-world locations.
To get beyond the " fake reality " of websites and video
games and the not-much-better reality of the " global villages "
of Disney World, we grandparents, as our means
allow, should look for opportunities to take our grandchildren
out of their comfort zones and into the parts of the
globe that they have never imagined and that they can
never experience vicariously or in cyberspace or amusement
park space.
Frankly, there is nothing quite like the experience
and relationships provided by a situation with grandparents
and grandkids in a remote corner of the world
without Wi-Fi or TV, giving real help and having genuine
communication.
Funds from the type of family foundation discussed
in our last article qualify for use in participating in all of
these forms of humanitarian and charitable expeditions,
although the experience will mean more to kids if they
have earned part of the money it costs to go.
Reading through the majors
offered at universities
It is remarkable how many kids start college these days
26 GRAND Summer 2021
with very little idea of what they want to study or what
courses and majors would tie into their natural abilities
and aptitudes.
There are aptitude tests and orientation courses and
other institutionalized methods for helping kids figure out
their careers and decide on the emphasis and directions
of their college or university training. But there is a much
better source and method, and it is called grandparents.
"
...look for opportunities
to take our grandchildren out
of their comfort zones...
"
Pick up a course catalog from a good university (or
find one online), and take your high school grandchild
out for dinner. Turn to the list of degrees or majors and
read through the entire list together and talk a bit about
the ones he or she may not be familiar with. Have your
grandchild rank each major with a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, depending
on how interesting the major sounds with 1 being low
interest and 5 being very high. Think together about what
kind of career each major might lead to.
Discuss how the world is changing and how there are
things to do in work and career and in educational focus
that did not even exist a few years ago. Explain and discuss
how important it is to think hard about what to study
in college, and even to take some exploratory classes,
various aptitude tests, and do a serious analysis of where
his or her interests lie.
Whoever you are and wherever you have been, as a
grandparent, you are at one end of your life experience
and your grandchildren are at the other end. You can
and should seek to become one of your grandkids' primary
and principal mentors as they grow and become
acquainted with the world around them.
Richard and Linda Eyre's parenting and lifebalance
books have reached millions and
been translated into a dozen languages. As
fellow Baby Boomers, their
passion and their writing focus
has now shifted to the joy of
Grandparenting. Linda's latest
book is Grandmothering,
Richard's is Being a
Proactive grandfather, and
their latest co-authored
book is Life in Full. All
three of these are now on
sale on Amazon.

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GRAND Magazine - Summer 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - Summer 2021