Care for yourself: 16 ways grandparents should follow their own advice

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Care for yourself: 16 ways grandparents should follow their own advice

We grandparents regularly show love and encouragement to our grandchildren. Yet how often do we turn that steady flow of love and encouragement on ourselves? If you're like me, not often.

Time for that to change.

Following are sixteen ways to nurture and care for yourself in ways you likely encourage your grandchildren to care for and about their selves.

boy walking dog

(15 more follow...)
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3 things I learned this week: The good, the not-so-good and the 'Breaking Bad'

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Good Thing No. 1:

It was announced this week that Allegiant is once again offering flights from my place to (near) my grandsons' place. Twice a week. For pretty darn cheap prices, even figuring in the cost of paying to lug my Grandma Bag with me when I visit.

grandma and grandsonsThat's great news considering my third grandson will be born in June and I'll be visiting soon after his birth. Also great news because that...

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Crafts with kids, 1986 and 2014

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Throwback Thursday

October 1986 —
Craft time with my two-year-old daughter, Megan:

child doing crafts

February 2014 —
Craft time with Megan's two- and five-year-old sons, Mac and Bubby:

boys doing crafts

Today's question:

What do you do with your grandchildren that you fondly recall doing with their parent(s)?

T minus eight to grandson kisses

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The last time I got hugs and kisses from Bubby and Mac was last October.

The kisses part of the package looked a little like this:

Funny how quickly a photo shoot can morph into a kiss fest.

I loved it!

And look forward to it again.

In eight days!

Today's question:

What do you look forward to in the next seven days?

12 ways grandparents can be everyday mentors

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12 ways grandparents can be everyday mentors

grandparents as mentors

January is National Mentoring Month. The National Mentoring Month website provides oodles of information and plenty of reasons why mentoring matters, noting that — to name just a few — kids with mentors:

  • have better school attendance, better attitudes about school and a better chance of going on to higher education;
  • are 46 percent less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs and 27 percent less likely to start drinking...
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