It's Our First Book!

Grandparents.com is proud to kick off 2012 with big news: We've published our first book!

The Modern Grandparent's Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to the New Rules of Grandparenting, written by our Senior Editor, Dr. Georgia Witkin, and published by New American Library, is on sale right now in the brand-new Grandparents.com Bookstore for just $10.87, almost 30 percent lower than the full $15 price. And remember, Grandparents.com Benefits Club members always get free shipping on orders of $25 or more.

 

So, why does the world need a book about grandparenting? We'll let Georgia explain in the following excerpt from her introduction:

A new grandparent is created every 20 seconds... and if you are one of them, welcome! There are a lot of us already — 70 million grandparents in the United States, and 1.7 million more added every year. And while there are lots of books to help parents who worry about their baby’s health, their baby’s size, and what IQ-boosting toys they should buy for their toddlers, there are very few books for us. Their parents. The grandparents!

But do we really need a book about grandparenting?

After all, weren’t we parents already? Aren’t we founts of help and advice? Ready to jump in and help, but wise enough to know when to bow out and be silent? The givers of gifts, and guardians of family history? Mature, mellow, and marvelous?

Yes, but...

And isn’t grandparenting natural? Weren’t there grandparents long before there were books? Isn’t it instinctive, basic, and built-in?

Yes, but...

And haven’t we grown up watching our own grandparents in action? We had grandparents, our children have grandparents, and now our grandchildren have grandparents. It’s the way of the world, isn’t it?

Yes, but... You’ll find that while your emotions may be universal and the problems are timeless, one thing is very different for today’s grandparents. We are different!

What We Want to Know

Since we are grandparents like no others, our questions are like no others'. We want to know how to pick a name for ourselves. What’s wrong with Grandma or Grandpa? Nothing, but it’s often already taken, since our parents, and perhaps even their parents, are still alive. With so many grandparents, stepgrandparents, blended and melded grandparents, and great-grandparents in most families, we want also to know how to be a favorite — or at least, among the favorites. We want to know if it’s normal to have favorite grandkids, or to feel stressed or even bored at times when grandchildren visit. We want to know how to make grandchildren smile without spoiling, and help their parents provide for them financially without becoming a purse or a nurse. We want to know how to handle divorce (our divorce and/or their parents’ divorce) without hurting the grandchildren. We want to know what our daughters-in-law really think about us and how to develop a better relationship with them so we can be even closer to our grandchildren.

How do I know what grandparents what to know?

Well, first, because I’m a grandparent. Three times over. Next, because I’m a psychiatry professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and have reviewed grandparenting research and designed many multigenerational surveys. Also, because I’ve covered grandparenting topics and interviewed experts as a host and as the health-and-lifestyle contributor to CNBC, NBC, and Fox News for a total of 18 years. I’ve also researched and authored more than 10 books on family stress, including The Female Stress Survival Guide, The Male Stress Survival Guide, KidStress, and Stress Relief for Disasters Great and Small.

But mainly because grandparents have told me what they want to know! As the senior editor of Grandparents.com, my articles and videos have reached at least a million grandparents, and I've gotten tremendous feedback from them. Every topic in this book comes from their comments and messages. They've written to share their stories, their advice, and their warnings, and to ask questions — not only of me, but of other grandparents as well. Thousands of Grandparents.com readers chat with one another regularly in groups focused on raising grandkids, long-distance grandparenting, daughter-in-law problems, and much more. Many participate in the online surveys. Some just read our articles and contribute opinions. Grandparents from every walk of life and from across the country have asked for this book and made this book possible. And I thank you all!