A study abroad semester in Spain is one example of a Living Legacy Foundation sponsored project. Stock photo credit The LEAF Project on Flickr. During my many heartfelt discussions with grandparents about their legacies (financial and otherwise), something always nagged at me. Virtually all those discussion began with somebody declaring solemnly, “After I die…” as…
DetailsAs part of my book, The Grandest Love: Inspiring the Grandparent-Grandchild Connection, I collected 30 letters from grandchildren of all ages and backgrounds, asking them to share what they had learned from a grandparent. I was fortunate to include my own grandchildren in the process. Here’s a letter from my granddauther Kathryn (always Katie to…
DetailsStock photo credit: tsny los angeles on Flickr There’s no question that human beings possess an innate pull towards independent action, individuality, and self-determination, and that it is critical that each of us acquire the skills and the confidence to live successfully on our own and transmit those values to the next generations. I don’t…
Details“If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable—each segment distinct.” —Letty Cottin Pogrebin “Diversity: the art of thinking independently, together.” —Malcolm Forbes Independence: It’s the American Way In 2010, I took an adult-education course at Northwestern University, titled “Families in the 21st Century.” My…
DetailsOnly with Forgiveness In some instances, it will take more than shared delight over a new baby to wipe away years of contentiousness or resentment or to reopen lines of communication that have long been clogged. The reality is, some stumbling blocks in our relationships with our adult children may be products of a past…
DetailsI’ve discovered that a grandparent’s deep love for their grandchildren and a commitment to connecting with them and their world, can foster an improved family synergy across the board, enriching my relationship with the parents of those amazing grandkids: my daughter, Ellen, and my son, Michael, and their respective spouses. It hasn’t always been easy,…
DetailsGet The Grandest Love: Inspiring the Grandparent-Grandchild Connection now in time for Father’s Day! Google ‘grandma’ and you get 113 million results; ‘grandpa’, only 63.5 million. Both numbers are astronomical, but in the world of kids and cuddlies, women still rule. (see original article here: http://patch.com/illinois/deerfield/using-your-secret-executive-grandparenting-power-enrich-whole-family-0 ) But, the truth is, being a grandparent tugs at…
DetailsBeing a grandparent makes me think of a Hasidic proverb that says “Old age to the unlearned is winter. Old age to the learned is harvest time.” Grandparents entering your grandchild’s world is your harvest time. As I head off to New York for a conversation at the JCC Manhattan with Rabbi Joy Levitt on “The…
DetailsUntil very recently, I was calling the love a grandparent has for their grandchildren “unconditional love.” In talking with my son and others, I realized that many, including parents, may qualify their love for their children as unconditional. Now I realize the better word is “mature” love. Earlier this month I attended an event presented…
DetailsI never really knew my grandparents. My Grandma Lynette, the only grandparent alive when I was born, died when I was only four. My family has a canon of hilarious stories about Lynette, an intensely opinionated woman with four former husbands. But my foggy memories of her are merely the minty taste of Kellogg’s Grasshopper…
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