Whenever I am called on to explain why Grandparents Rights is such a tough subject I find myself deflecting the question. The answer(s) are many and very complicated. A lot of why it is hard is that we all start too late. Most Grandparents wait til there is family unit stability trouble on the horizon to start worrying about the potential that they may not see as much of their grands as they wish. In some cases it is whether they will get to see them at all.
Most of us believe in the logic of Grandparents being good for the grandchildren. That is because we are. There is so much a grandparent can add to each grandkids life, in some cases we can even add things that it is hard for the parents to add. Kids know that their parents are supposed to love them. A grandparent is like the icing on the cake. Because you are Caring Grandparents you know that more love in a child’s life is good for all.
You may then ask what the problem is. One answer is something I wrote in my book, “The reality of life is that it is complicated. The reality of family is that it is a multiple of complicated. The reality of extended family is that it is exponentially complicated”. My sole purpose for this blog , my book and my next book is to find a way to allow the children to get more love, not less. My years of observing this subject leads me to think that the answers tend to be more easily found early in the Grandparenting experience. That is not to say that there is no hope for those of us who have been Grandparents for a long time. There is always hope. My hope is that I will find the wisdom to encourage folks to start earlier and prevent some of the hardships they may suffer later.
Thank You for being Caring Grandparents.