The Essential Grandparent: A Guide to Making a Difference

Ready or not, you're a grandparent! How did you get here so fast? No one consults you about this new role. It is handed to you without your advice or consent. So now that you're here at this new stage of life, the question before you is, what are you going to make of it?

This book will help you find your answer and assist you in developing a plan for your grandparenting. It will dispel the myths and "tell it like it is." You'll learn that other grandparents feel just as you do. It will guide you to become aware of the possibilities, encourage you to trust your intuition, and teach you how to set goals so that you can make the most of this essential role. Just as babies don't come with instructions for parents, they certainly don't come with instructions for grandparents!

The joys of grandparenting are available to all. It's healthy for us, the older generation, to nurture the young. It is our natural task to influence the future in this way. There are no requirements for a grandparent to be of a certain color, educational level, lifestyle or economic class. However, just loving our children and grandchildren is not enough. The joy comes from our ingenuity, energy and determination to provide stability and purpose. It is ours for the doing.

Dr. Lillian Carson, D.S.W., L.C.S.W., Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work, is an authority on child development, parenting, and grandparenting. She is a psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and has worked with adults, children and families for the past 25 years. Dr. Carson conducts groups and lectures, and has made numerous television appearances on the topics of child development, parenting and women's issues. She is listed in the World's Who's Who of Women and Who's Who of American Women. She lives in Montecino, California with her husband and enjoys grandparenting eight grandchildren.