Showing posts with label grandchildren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grandchildren. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Are you a grandparent taking care of your own parent?

More and more boomers are now grandparents AND are faced with the responsibility for their parents. Demands from both ends of the family spectrum. The sandwich generation is indeed a reality.

58% of the grandparents in the U.S. are boomers.
That's 27 million boomer grandparents.

Boomer grandparents may live close by, but more likely they live at a distance. Instead of the family all going to grandmother's house as in the old days, it's more often the case of grandparents traveling to their families. With long distances to consider, it makes more sense most of the time for the grandparents to be the ones traveling.

And then, it's likely that the boomers' parents may live at a distance as well. That can be a lot of bouncing around trying to keep up with everyone in the family. Working full time either in an employed sense or as a business owner is another huge demand on the boomer grandparent.

Boomer grandmothers may enjoy reading stories written by 27 grandmothers, exploring grandmotherly emotions and experiences.

Barbara Graham: Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Grandchildren Are Also Part of the Process

I love this video I found on YouTube. Hearing about having Alzheimer's in the Family from a child really touched me.

This situation with Alzheimer's in the family is different from what my family has experienced. We have had the experience of taking Mom's great grandchildren to the Care Center to visit her. It's difficult for them to feel comfortable with her because of her lack of verbal skills, the unfamiliar environment, and Mom's appearance that has changed so much. Even the anxiety of their parents, Mom's grandchildren, is felt by the little ones. All of the great grandchildren are under 10 years old.

Family has always been top priority to Mom and she still shows a positive reaction to seeing the children. The great grandchildren live all over the U.S. All the families have made the effort to come to visit.

Something we did to help the children feel a bit more comfortable was to bring Mom out to a living room area in the Care Center that feels more like being in a home situation. It's also important to plan so that someone can be with the children when the visit goes longer than they can tolerate. Short connection is the best. It's difficult to keep the children with Mom for very long because of their discomfort and the sometimes intense stimuli for Mom.