As grandparents, you usually have the benefit of interacting with your grandkids on a level that is once removed from the day-today responsibilities of parents. For many, grandparenting means a weekend together every now and them, an afternoon play date, an evening babysitting, a summer vacation, or chats on the phone and email exchanges here and there. But when life circumstances change through divorce, the death of parents, or changes to a parent’s work or school related responsibilities , it often falls to grandparents to assume full or part time responsibilities for their grandchildren. While raising your grandchildren can be challenging it can also be rewarding.Here are some tips:• Acknowledge your feelings. The prospect of raising grandchildren is bound to trigger a range of emotions. Positive emotions, like the love you feel for your grandchildren, the joy in seeing them learn and grow, and relief at giving them a stable environment, are easy to acknowledge . It’s more difficult to admit to feelings such as resentment, guilt, or fear. It’s important to acknowledge and accept what you’re feeling, both positive and negative. Don’t beat yourself up over your doubts and misgivings. It’s only natural to feel some ambivalence about childrearing at a time when you expected your responsibilities to be dwindling. These feeling don’t mean that you don’t love your grandchildren. You may feel stressed and overwhelmed with the added responsibility. You may feel anger and resentment toward your child for leaving you with the responsibility of raising their child. You may feel guilty for your child’s failure as a parent, second guessing and regretting your own mistakes when you were first parenting. If you came to the responsibility of raising your grandchildren because of the death of their parents you will be grieving the loss of your child and the difficulties that have let to this situation.• Take care of yourself. You probably weren’t expecting to be raising kids again at this stage in your life. When you are preoccupies with the daily demands of raising grandkids, it’s easy to let your own needs fall by the wayside but taking care of yourself is a necessity, not a luxury. You can’t be a good caretaker when you are overwhelmed, exhausted, and emotionally depleted. In order to keep up with your grandkids, you need to be calm, centered, and focused. Looking after your own mental and physical health is how ...
