Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/grandparents-as-parents-understanding-the-issues/5010418/
We develop bonds with out grandchildren that are very natural and unlike our bonds to our own children. Sometimes we see in our grandchildren our own children. It is like reliving their childhood. It is a special relationship; and, for many grandparents, one that is very tender, very intimate, and very sacred.But this is the 90's - and we all know that in the 90's all the rules we once knew as family values, family traditions, are changing. For many, the fantasy of being a grandparent is very different, much more latent with emotional issues in terms of how they see grandchildren, how they see the bonds with their own children, and how they see future generations.
I began working with grandparents when, as a school principal, I was suddenly faced with a whole new population of parents - they were grandparents. I had worked closely with foster parents, aunts and uncles, young parents, old parents, and other family members, and even friends who had been left with young children to raise. But, for some reason, the grandparents that I began talking with were different. They had different questions, different needs.
The ...