Blog - GenParenting

Aug 10 2021

Conversations with My Grandchildren

In the last week, my grandchildren reached academic milestones. The twins took part in their promotion ceremony ending their elementary school years. They will be moving on to middle school in August. My oldest granddaughter graduated from middle school and will be starting high school; the same high school her parents attended.

My conversations with these three very important people in my life, and the types of interactions we have, are changing. Sometimes, when I visit them, they quickly greet me then take off into their bedrooms to do whatever they were doing. I barely see them during my visit. Other times, I’ll get into a conversation with one of them where I will gain insight into the person he or she is and is becoming. [Read more…]

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Aug 03 2021

Camp Grandma

When my children were growing up, many of their friends would be delivered to their grandparents’ home for a week to play and explore new adventures with their grandparents. When they returned from these mini vacations, they would rave for days about the many adventures they encountered on these treasured trips. Although my children did not have grandparents who traveled with their grandchildren, they were fortunate to share similar experiences with their friends’ families. [Read more…]

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Jul 27 2021

Career Explorations for Our Children

Throughout life, children aspire to become many different things when they grow up. One child may want to become a sanitation worker and recycle truck driver. Others dream of becoming a fireman, police woman, or teacher. From an early age, we can encourage our children to learn more about different types of careers and jobs by:

Taking our children to our jobs afterschool, in the evening, or on weekends
Encouraging our children to help us with various aspects of our job (i.e. sort different assignments for teachers, organize the trash and recyclables for the garbage collection and recycle centers, and conduct household fire safety checks)
Helping our children learn how to pursue specific career explorations through research, participation in early college courses, and engaging in relevant work experiences

[Read more…]

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Jul 20 2021

How to Help Our Children Self-Publish a Book

You and your child can learn how to write, edit, typeset, and create a book that can be sold on demand or as an e-book through Amazon and at book fairs by completing the worksheet below. Then you can contact an independent publisher to edit, typeset, and help you market your book as the demand for sales is determined.

Book Writing Outline

Recently, my six-year-old grandson asked me to help him write a book on construction equipment. We completed the chart below and he proceeded to draw ten different types of construction equipment for his book. He then dictated to me how each piece of equipment was used to construct a building, road, or project in his community. I wrote the story as dictated to me in his words. I only asked clarification questions to complete an idea. Here is the book outline that we used to complete his story: [Read more…]

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Jul 13 2021

Recording Observations in Science Notebooks

When I hike with my grandchildren, they make many observations along the way. They may watch a slug moving on a leaf, or worms slither around as they lift up a rock. They generate questions about the plants and animals they see. Often this leads to conversations that generate lots of ideas to explain what they have observed. It is valuable to record these observations and these comments in science notebooks.

Start Young

Recording observations can start with very young children by encouraging them to draw what they have seen. If children cannot yet write, they can dictate to parents or grandparents, who can then label the drawings. They may also record the children’s questions or observations next to the drawings.

Little by little, children will want to write for themselves. At first, they may write one letter or a series of letters they hear when they say name of the object they are depicting. This inventive writing should be encouraged. It is a vital step in the development of writing. Eventually, as their phonemic awareness increases and their phonics develops, children will fill in the missing letters and increase their written comments.

[Read more…]

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