After six grandchildren and many toddler gifts, this Grandma has listened to her daughters and daughter-in-law rave and complain about gifts and toys. Of course, when we give a toddler gift, we want the toddler to be happy, if not overjoyed. Here are some do’s and dont’s from this experienced Grandma. As much as I […]
Grandma’s List of Five Best and Five Worst Toddler Toys and Gifts
January 23, 2021 By Leave a Comment
Emily in Paris is the 2021 Best Bad TV to Watch and Maybe Share With Grandchildren
January 9, 2021 By Leave a Comment
I receive Netflix and HBO Max suggestions from friends on a daily basis during this pandemic. We grandparents are one generation older than our children, the parents of our grandchildren, compulsed on podcasts and reality shows. Our grandchildren are compulsed on Tik Tok, Instagram and You Tube. Our almost ten year old grandson has his […]
Memorializing Family Rituals and Traditions in the New Year 2021
January 1, 2021 By Leave a Comment
When I wrote previous New Year’s blog posts I thought those transitions were difficult. See blog post, Memorializing Family Rituals and Traditions in the New Year 2019, in which I reviewed that year and previous posts so applicable again this year. Now we have survived a year of a pandemic, causing loss and the greatest […]
School Mask Breaks And Other 2020 COVID-19 Experiences Our Grandchildren Should Preserve For Their Children and Grandchildren, Sample Questions for Videotaping Them and How To Do It
December 25, 2020 By Leave a Comment
During the COVID-19 coronavirus lock down period in March and April, 2020, I interviewed our older grandchildren, two aged 13 and one aged 16. We videotaped these interviews to be opened in ten years. At that time, the children were abruptly removed from school and quarantined with all of us. When I interviewed them last […]
The Best of the Best 2020 Christmas and Chanukah Gifts for Everyone and Especially Grandchildren in This Far From the Best Year for Celebration
December 3, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Thanksgiving 2020 took a toll. Not only could this Grandma not cook small enough for two, nothing tasted as good as when the entire family is together. And none of us were together. Zoom just did not cut it for Thanksgiving. The grandchildren were not loud, boisterous, and involved, from youngest to oldest. This year […]
Our Holocaust Family History, Part II. My Mother, Holocaust Survivor
November 26, 2020 By Leave a Comment
My mother, born Feiga (“little bird” or Zipora in Hebrew) Jelen, for whom our granddaughter is named), rarely spoke of the Holocaust. When her first great grandchild was born, she wrote: “There is an outpouring of emotion. Remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. Resistance. Remembrance. Survival. Centered on one basic lesson–to never forget. The […]
The Difference in American Life due to COVID-19 Between March and April 2020 and November 2020: Pandemic Loss of Memories and Sharing Life Passage Events Brings Tears
November 5, 2020 By Leave a Comment
When the pandemic lockdown occurred March, 2020, I videotaped the three oldest grandchildren for them to save and look at their videos in ten years memorializing their lives during COVID-19. We had a list of questions for them to answer, including how the pandemic lockdown had changed their lives. The oldest grandchild, age seventeen, was […]
Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and This Florida Judge’s Immigrant Life Following Her A Decade Later. Parallels Demonstrate Six Keys To Success For Grandchildren and How To Honor Her Legacy
October 21, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a giant among us and her loss has been felt nationwide. The following two quotes I received from friends and relatives upon the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman Justice and first Jewish woman justice, touched me the most. “A Jewish teaching says […]
Finding COVID-19 Testing For Adults By Mail is Easy But How Can Parents Find COVID-19 Testing by Mail for Children, Locations That Test Children for COVID-19, Prepare Children for the Test, and Help Children Cope With the COVID-19 Test
September 17, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Travel is scary now enough for adults. I have several friends who have flown and send me pictures of themselves on the airplane. It was anxiety ridden, according to them. They were as cautious as they could be, social distancing at the airports, totally covered from head to toe, with disinfectants at their fingertips. They […]
The Best Idea For Maintaining Close Contact With Grandchildren During Covid-19 Comes From An Unexpected Source
September 9, 2020 By Leave a Comment
PopPop, and I, as long distance grandparents, made it our business to visit our grandchildren often when they were younger, about every four to six weeks, until they at least started preschool. We felt that the babies and toddlers needed the frequent contact to develop a close bond, which we hoped would last forever. With […]
PART TWO of Learning Tips to Pass On and Incorporate With Your Grandchildren During Remote or Part Time Learning and Any Time
September 2, 2020 By Leave a Comment
At this time of remote or part time learning, we are all concerned about how much our grandchildren are going to retain. I hope the two blog posts on learning theory that I have found helpful hopefully helps us grandparents help our precious grandchildren. “PART ONE of Learning Tips to Pass On and Incorporate With […]
The Best and Worst About Our Grandchildren Safely Going To School This Coming School Year While the Pandemic, COVID-19, Is Still Among Us
July 8, 2020 By Leave a Comment
This Grandma interviewed the three oldest grandchildren to preserve their memories about what life is like during the pandemic. The questions included was the worst thing about their isolation during the lockdown due to the pandemic. See post, “What Will Our Grandchildren Remember About Living Through The Coronavirus Pandemic COVID-19 and How To Memorialize their […]
A Humorous and Profound View on What We Have Learned from Covid-19: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
July 1, 2020 By Leave a Comment
A friend who is an outstanding writer shared an article she wrote for her local community newsletter and gave me permission to share it with you. We all need a laugh at this time and I think the laughs you get will be more than you expected. I thank Nancy Schaal, the author, for sharing […]
The Six Best Tips for Car Travel in the Time of Coronavirus, Covid-19
June 17, 2020 By Leave a Comment
With the corona virus pandemic, we do not want to leave the house, much less travel any distance. Yes, staying home is getting old. But, travel is now anxiety ridden and just plain scary. Life in the time of Covid-19 means weighing risk tolerance and just how much risk one is willing to take, especially […]
Grandma’s List of Five Best and Five Worst Toddler Toys and Gifts
June 10, 2020 By Leave a Comment
After six grandchildren and many toddler gifts, this Grandma has listened to her daughters and daughter-in-law rave and complain about gifts and toys. Of course, when we give a toddler gift, we want the toddler to be happy, if not overjoyed. Here are some do’s and dont’s from this experienced Grandma. As much as I […]
Father’s Day 2020 is a Father’s Day Like No Other and Consider Gifts Like No Other Year
June 3, 2020 By Leave a Comment
We are in the midst of once in a century and half century traumatic events. There are protests in the street after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Our country continues to exhibit institutionalized racism, another plague which should be immediately addressed. We are in the sixth month of dealing with a Covid-19 pandemic. […]
Grandparents May Be the Answer To The War Against Vaccines
May 27, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Beginning around 2013, I read that the Russians first tried a social media campaign against vaccination in the United States as a test to see if they could be successful using that medium to turn Americans against vaccinating our children. See, “Weaponized Health Communication: Twitter Bots and Russian Trolls Amplify the Vaccine Debate,” American Journal […]
For A Sweet Relief From Seriousness of the Pandemic, Ice Cream Bread To Try Out For Yourself With The Leftover Rainbow Sprinkles You Cannot Now Share With Your Grandchildren or Zoom Make it With Them And More No Bake Ideas
May 20, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Pandemic Pounds. That is what I call the extra weight I am carrying around due to a sweet tooth and being home all the time to overdo. Yes, we add bakery items to our Instacart Publix shopping list. As an aside, we may never go into a supermarket again as we are getting used to […]
A Child of Holocaust Survivors View of Surviving the Coronavirus, Covid-19
May 13, 2020 By Leave a Comment
For the very first time in over seven decades, I decided that I would participate in an on line video group of second generation Holocaust survivors led by an expert who is a second generation herself, who I had previously heard speak, in a discussion, “Intergenerational Transmission of Hope: The Legacy of Trauma in the […]
The Truth About Boomers Filling Each Day During the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Why It is Important to America’s Economy To Pay Attention to Us
May 6, 2020 By Leave a Comment
It is May 2020, and we are in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19. We Boomers have been self isolating or quarantining since the beginning of March. We Boomers, who are grandparents, miss visiting our grandchildren and activities and outings with friends, travel, and so many activities that had consumed our lives before the […]
