This Grandma gave birth to her first child under anesthesia, “twilight sleep,” it was called in the early 1970s. I remember nothing of the birth and remember a beautiful baby put in my arms when I awoke. My second childbirth experience lasted less than an hour with absolutely no anesthesia. I had wanted the then […]
Archives for October 2014
Giving Birth with Epidurals Has Come a Long Way and the New Studies Have Good News for Pregnant Moms
Best Pumpkin Carving Stencils: The Newest Halloween Rage to Create a New Halloween Tradition
At work, a colleague showed me a picture of an elaborately carved pumpkin he and his children carved over the weekend. It was amazing. I asked him how he did it. He said, “you didn’t know that there are now stencils that you can use and tools especially made for elaborate Halloween pumpkin carving?” I […]
Are Our Grandchildren Going to Have Animals Left in the World and What Does this Mean for Our Great-Grandchildren
Grandpa and I recently took our two youngest grandchildren to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., primarily to see the pandas, which are Grandpa’s favorite animal. We learned all about how few pandas there are in the world and the efforts to increase their number. We looked around at other animals that are also near […]
Grandma Teaching Tolerance and Acceptance With A Smile
Recently, I was relating to a friend a wonderful and memorable day I had spent with my then near three year old grandson intending to give him a day of “firsts” in his young life. I took him on his first train ride to Manhattan, going underground for the first time into Grand Central Station. […]
When Another Spate of Contemporaries Die, this Boomer Grandma Gets Moving
An old wives tale says bad news comes in threes. Well, this Boomer Grandma is up to four recent deaths of contemporaries. Robin Williams’ death was one of the four and ill health may have been a precipitating factor in his suicide. Grandpa and I discussed how we were fortunate to see him on stage […]
This Grandma Now Thinks We can Build Resilience in Our Grandchildren
This Grandmother is a child of Holocaust survivors. As adolescents and young adults, my parents survived horrors that are unbelievable even today. I also consider myself a survivor. I survived my parents’ nightmares and daymares, learning too young the evils of man. I consider myself resilient and as an educator and professional dealing with children […]
Two New Easy Ways for Boomers To Measure Our Youth for Our Age and Good Health and How to Maintain These
Grandpa and I are on our return home from a trip abroad planned after a few contemporaries died less than three months ago in quick succession. We realized we should celebrate life and our good health. Unexpectedly, a closer friend and contemporary died while we were in Portugal. We know the fragility of life and […]
We Still Line Up At School in Alphabetical Order and It Affects Our Lives
This Grandma remembers not only lining up in alphabetical order in elementary school, but also remembers that we sat at our desks in alphabetical order. For years, I had the same person in front of me and behind me in line and sitting in front and behind me in every classroom. My last name was […]
I Wish I Had Straight Talk Wireless Safe Driver Car Connection When I Was Parenting A New Teen Driver—Do They Have a Portable Unit to Attach to a Younger Child?
A print advertisement in People Magazine caught my eye. It started, “Because you never stopped trying to keep them safe.’ Then it showed four pictures with captions: Age 1 A crib Age 2 An electrical outlet Age 6 A helmet Age 16 Straight Talk Wireless Safe Driver Car Connection Then the rest: “Help prevent distracted […]
Grandparents Make Great ”Science Buddies” for Science Project Ideas
On the way to work listening to the car radio (no, I do not have satellite radio and my grandchildren lament this), I was hearing all the parents calling in and lamenting that their nightmare upon the beginning of the new school year was getting the notice about the science fair project. Yes, this Grandma […]
Give Your Grandchild the World in his or her Hand with a Globe
Yes, we all wish we could give each of our grandchildren the world, the moon, the sun and the stars. We can start with a globe! As we travel, we can share the locations on the globe. With the internet, grandchildren don’t necessarily get to hold the world and we can do this for them. […]