Grandparents Rights

Back in the early 1770s, when Thomas Jefferson sat down to write some thoughts of this new experiment in governance it was an exceedingly heady, dangerous and stressful time. I am afraid that Grandparents rights were not front and center in his mind. As a matter of fact neither were parents rights, they were interjected later as an amendment. Not only that but Parents rights were and are written into the constitution as subject to the judgement of the state. I bring this up to start a conversation, not about the legalities of Grandparents rights and/or parents rights, but rather […]

If you have more than one child with children of there own you are probably struck by how different the Grandparenting experience is from one extended family to the others. No matter what your relationship is with your own children you have now added a spouse to each of your own kids. That spouse brings a totally different set of life and familial experiences to your family. When Grandkids are added to the mix ……….You can see where this gets more complicated. I won’t even venture into blended families in this post. I will save that for future discussion. I […]

As Grandparents we have earned the right to think it is all about us. We also have the right to think it is all about our grandkids. The truth is, when it comes to Grandparents Rights it IS all about the parents. I have to remind you that I am only the messenger. I also hate to inform you but this has less to do with fairness, which is in the eyes of the beholder, and all about what is SMART. I will warn you that, when it comes to Grandparents rights, smart is often really, really hard. Since the […]

The birth of each grandchild, aside from being a undisputed miracle, starts a magic transformation in a Caring Grandparent. According to Lesley Stahl’s new book “BECOMING GRANDMA” there is an actual chemical change that aids this bonding process. I don’t know about you all but I have been hopelessly smitten with each and all of my Grands and Great Grands with or without any chemical change. I am in awe of every one of them. At the same time I am acutely aware of the ripe opportunity I have in this unique relationship between Grandparent and Grandchild. I hold the […]

The battle to win Grandparents rights is long, hard and not often rewarding in the short term. That is not to say that it is not worth it. It is only to say that Grandparents Rights may better be seen as Grandparents privileges. Since Grandparents rights aren’t and never will be constitutional it is time for a new approach. I advocate the approach of preemptive mindful actions that allow us a much better chance to be a part of our grandchildren’s lives going forward. I will be talking more about specifics in coming posts but I think we need to […]