I Do Want my Grandsons to say “me too” to ending sexual harassment and standing up for women. I love my weekly calls with my grandson Ethan, a Rabbi at the Park Synagogue in Manhattan. When we spoke a couple of weeks ago, I opened the topic by asking for advice for an upcoming meeting…
DetailsMy son Michael, who recently became a grandpa himself, wrote this wonderful, deep, thoughtful letter to me. It was in response to, or perhaps to further ponder my last two blog posts about, how, at 89, I could respond to the events of Charlottesville, and about maintaining a culture of learning and teaching across the…
DetailsHow to teach, learn and care with extended family At 89 years old, I found myself thinking with pride the other day about how amazing the experience and intellectual power of my extended family is. What a wealth of knowledge we are collectively. I have learned about worlds far from mine from all of them.…
DetailsBy Jerry Witkovsky I watched the TV news–and witnessed the KKK, the Neo Nazi’s and the White Supremacists shouting their hate. It burns a hole in my heart and soul. What can I do about it at age 89? As I struggled with this, the following thought went through my mind: “When a Grandparent dies…
DetailsOmama Gina, our dance was through a flicker of time. So out of place in 1950s Newark; plump, romantic, pre-Raphaelite sprite, with garlands in her hair. We sprawled on her living-room rug, drawing rainbows and sunbursts, princesses and unicorns. And oh we danced, channeling her rebellious sister, the one who had beguiled Kafka. Gina’s (hard…
Details“Separate Realities” of Parents and Children San Francisco-based psychologist Joshua Coleman, Ph.D., is the author of When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When You and Your Grown Child Don’t Get Along (Harper Collins, 2008). In a blog post for UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, Dr. Coleman recommends: Honor the ‘separate realities’ nature of family life.…
DetailsA few years ago, when I was a teenager, I fell in love with a boy who just really wasn’t right for me in any way. He was rude to my friends, but when they urged me to leave him, I didn’t listen. My mom saw the way he treated me (which wasn’t very good),…
DetailsThere’s a radio ad for First American Bank that features a smart man explaining things to his grandma. While it’s radio, she begs you to imagine a simple old woman from Lithuania, whose primary concern is cooking. Well, as Oldsmobile likes to say…today’s grandma is “not your grandma’s grandma.” Fact in point, here are some…
DetailsBy Jerry Witkovsky (adapted from his book, The Grandest Love: Inspiring the Grandparent Grandchild Connection) Grandparents often ask me, “How will I be remembered?” They know that they can leave valuables, but things can be lost, discarded or no longer considered valuable. A legacy of values, however, can guide grandchildren in their daily life, school,…
DetailsOUR GRANDPARENTS, OUR MEMORIES – CHOOSE TO CONNECT By Matej Silecky I have been working on a project that, it is safe to say, would not exist without the lifelong influence of all of my grandparents. The project, “Baba Babee Skazala” translates from Ukrainian to English as “Grandmother told Grandmother.” Basically, it consists of: oral…
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