A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a grandmother who is an active member of Grandly. She believes that part of her role as a grandmother is to have a positive impact on her 20 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. She is aware that not all of her grandchildren are making the best decisions. It concerns her that some are not attending church or following the Lord. Several of her grandchildren are wrestling with moral issues that are affecting their lives. Others are struggling with studies and friendships. She is discouraged by all of this and doesn’t quite know what to do.
Her grandchildren know she is a Christian, and they know when they go to her house there are certain expectations regarding their behavior. They don’t use bad language, they are respectful to each other, and they always pray before the meal. They know that grandma has faith. However, she doesn’t know how to help them develop their own faith into something they can rely on when confronting the challenges they are going through.
When we established Grandly, we did it in part because we know there are many grandparents whose number one concern is the spiritual welfare of their grandchildren who are growing up in a tough world. We are now preparing the Grandly website to handle some of these challenging issues.
We want to solicit articles from our members that deal with how they have handled issues like grandchildren turning away from the Lord, long distance grandparenting, grandchildren with drug or alcohol problems, the impact of divorce on grandchildren, or a broken dynamic with one’s own child or with a child’s spouse.
Have you experienced any of these issues in your family? What did you do? We aren’t expecting every story to be sugar and success. Advances are often made one small step at a time. Sometimes it is three steps forward and two steps back. Your story is valuable and can bring wisdom, encouragement and hope to others!
Articles in this category will be tagged “Expert Advice.” (Our other categories are Motivation, Testimonies and Stories, Tools You Can Use, and Understanding Youth.)
Grandly: if you are going to do grandparenting, do it grandly.
Help us continue to grow this mission by submitting your article here: https://grandly.org/writeanarticle/
Pili Galván is the director of Grandly: The Strategic Grandparents Club
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