Building Family Relationships With Grandparents
You can't force the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. But you can help to foster it.
A child forms his strongest attachments within the first two years of life as the result of consistent loving contact—in other words, grandparents and grandchildren should spend lots of time together! Which means more date nights for you!
Here are some ideas for fostering the bond between grandparents and grandchildren:
- Set up a regular "playdate" with your child and his grandparents. Or even better, ask grandparents to babysit (but don't take it personally if they're not up for the responsibility!).
- Use Skype or other video services so your child can "visit" with Nana and Poppy even when they're not nearby.
- If you don't have video capability, a phone works well, too. Use the speaker phone so your baby or toddler doesn't have to hold a handset and grandparents can hear him babble.
- Send artwork to grandparents so they know their grandchild is thinking of them (even if he's not and you're standing over him with a crayon begging him to make one for Nonna!).
- Make a special photo album or brag book of your child, chronicling daily activities and milestones.
- Tell your child stories about what your parents (their grandparents) were like when you were a kid.
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