You know the feeling. You call your grandchild, the conversation runs dry after two minutes, and you hang up wishing it had gone differently. It’s not that you don’t care. It’s that you didn’t have the right details to open the right door.
That’s exactly the problem the Treasure Trove solves.
Introduced in The Bridge to Your Grandchildren by Neil Taft, the Treasure Trove is a simple loose-leaf notebook with one section for each grandchild. It’s not a scrapbook or a journal. It’s a practical reference, something you keep updated and bring to every call, visit, and holiday gathering.
The idea is simple: when you know what matters to a child, you can ask about it. And when you ask about it, they feel seen.
You don’t need to fill it all at once. Start with what you know and add to it over time.
Category | What to Include |
|---|---|
Basics | Full name, nicknames, birthday and birth year |
School | School name, grade, teacher’s name |
Social | Current best friend (write in pencil — this changes) |
Interests (younger kids) | Favorite color, TV shows, books, superheroes, games |
Interests (older kids) | Favorite music, athletes, hobbies, boy/girlfriend |
Unique details | Awards, characteristics, something that makes them them |
Neil recommends Mylar-reinforced paper so pages don’t tear out easily. A loose-leaf binder works best because you can add new pages as they grow and swap out old ones when things change.
Most grandparents rely on memory. That works fine when you see each other often. It breaks down fast across distance, busy schedules, and the blur of holidays and birthdays.
The Treasure Trove removes the guesswork. And the payoff is bigger than you might expect.
When you ask “How’s your friend Mia doing?” instead of “How are your friends?”, you signal something that generic questions never can: I’ve been paying attention to you.
That specificity is what keeps grandparents close during the hardest phase of all: the preteen years. When one-word answers become the norm, the grandparents who stay connected are almost always the ones who kept tracking the details.
If a physical notebook feels like too much to manage, there’s a newer digital option worth knowing about. Roland Thompson, author of Grand Connect, has created an app called GrandTracker, available on iOS and Android. It does the same job as the notebook, just on your phone. It’s Apple Store approved, with the necessary privacy safeguards in place.
Paper or digital, the principle is the same: keep the details current, show up prepared, and let your grandchildren feel known.
You don’t need a special notebook. You don’t need to fill in every section today. You just need to start.
Pick one grandchild and write down:
Their current best friend’s name
What they’re really into right now
One thing that makes them uniquely them
That’s it. Three details. That’s your Treasure Trove started.
Add to it as you learn more. Bring it to every call and visit. Watch what happens to the conversations.
Small steps, repeated, create a bridge you can both cross.
For more practical tools and resources for grandparents, explore caringgrandparents.com.
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