Long Distance Grandma: Staying Connected Across the Miles (Motherhood Club)

I bought this book knowing full well that it was very religious. (Thank you to the previous reviewers!) I was prepared to ignore that part in exchange for what I hoped would be some great ideas for connecting with my far, far away grandchildren.I have to tell you that this book covers most ages of grandchildren (up to and including grandkids away at college or in the military! That's unusual in my search.) The ideas are creative and many of them sound like lots of fun -- if you live within the same country and speak the same language as your grandkids and have a lot of money to send a package every few weeks.Sadly, none of this was all that much help for me.My children wouldn't recognize most of the holidays Mrs. Teisort explores in her book because they are not being raised in the United States or as Americans. They wouldn't be able to get many of the products she recommends and it's outrageously expensive to send gifts to them--I spend $20 on gifts and another $40 on shipping on birthdays as it is! And calling them or taping books for them to listen to isn't all that helpful since I don't speak the language they do.But I do highly recommend this book to American parents of American grandchildren who have some amount of money to send a package once a month or so! (And either they and their grandchildren are both Christian or who won't find it off putting to have to cherry pick the good ideas out of the religious dross).

Very practical for a grandma who lives far from her grand children - lots of sweet ideas for keeping in touch across the miles.

This book didn't tell me anything I hadn't already thought of. My grandchildren have just moved away and I'm looking for ways to stay connected to them. Most of these ideas have been presented before. One thing I did like was that she went through the year month by month and gave ideas for the season or holiday going on.

I bought this book as a gift for my mom as she is about to become a first time Grandma and we recently moved overseas. She hasn't finished reading it but told me how much she loves it and that it has some really good pointers.

granny said she enjoyed it

Purchased this hoping for some interesting and creative ways to stay in touch with my grandkids across the country. Had no idea it was going to be very religious in outlook. Very disappointed in this book.

I think this book is dated and out of touch with sophistication of today's children. Also annoying for the not-so-religious, as more than a few suggestions involve using Bible verses as part of play.

Nice ideas

I'm a mom who bought this book as a gift for my own mother.The book had really nice intentions but some of the ideas were very impractical unless you're a particular kind of person - someone who likes to cook, is religious and lives in a cold weather country that still uses old technology in the same time zone as the grandchildren.My mom doesn't cook so that rules out at least 25-30% of the book for us right there. She doesn't collect bible scripture so that rules out another 10-15%. And, she is not into crafts so that rules out a further 20%. She also lives in the tropics with a 5 hour time difference so there's no way we could practically coordinate web-cam story sessions or synchronised movie watching - lovely though those ideas are in principle.Also, my generation have all moved on to I-Pods, so as nice as it would be to hear granny's voice reading a story book to my child - we wouldn't have a cassette player to play the tape on - particularly since they're no longer widely sold. To be fair Teitsort acknowledges this but suggests you buy the grandkids a cassette player. Don't! There's nothing that will annoy a mom more than to have to accumulate more stuff than is necessary - particularly if she lives in a small city space she has to make work for the whole family. Better for granny to learn how to use an I-Pod to record and digitally send the mpeg of the story by email or burn it on a CD. The same applies to video tapes of gran reading stories or documenting her legacy. Video tapes need to be stored. For the sake of your children - get a digital recorder so they can store your stories electronically.Another thing that would annoy me, Teitsort repeatedly suggests sending mugs along with cocoa and chicken soup - which again is a nice idea but mom's cupboard is soon going to overflow with random mugs.Still there are some good ideas if you perservere and wade through. I quite liked sending the grandkids a box of crayons and a colouring book in which you'd coloured in a picture. That could be especially fun if you live somewhere that has different kinds of stories to the ones where mom and grandchild live. Or, send them pajamas and bath towels so they think of you in their intimate and day to day moments.Sending older kids a phone card is another good one - though you could always get on Skype over the internet and encourage them to call you for free.Ultimately this book inspired my own original ideas. Like my dad has a gorgeous singing voice - so I may get him to record all the songs he used to sing to me. And, both parents live in different parts of the world so rather than getting them to track the seasons I'll ask them to tell their grandchild all about the world they live in. Ultimately it's all about sharing of yourself and getting to know your grandchild. I don't think you need this book to learn how to do this.

This book is lovely. It is written by an American for an American readership, but I am an American living abroad so it resonates for me. (I'm using it to keep in touch with grandchildren whose parents are working in the mission field.) The ideas are excellent and take me back to cheery "how to" books when I was first parenting. There are lots of seasonal themes here and you can dip into it or read it cover to cover. If you are struggling with frustration and grief at being away from your grandchildren, this will help you to keep going. I can imagine it for grandparents who are only allowed limited access with grandchildren in the UK. One reservation (hence the 4 stars) is that it was written when e-mail was in its infancy; it really needs updating to make suggestions for use of social media.

Wasn't as helpful as i expected. Assumes that the Grandma will be visiting often & that sharing American holidays is the main way to be a grandma. Also quite outdated. Not for non-US families & doesn't give many good ideas for how to nurture a relationship without being in the same place often. eg. Recipes aren't so helpful long-distance.

The book includes lots of practical ideas for staying connected, which need not cost a lot of money. I already knew many of the ideas related to North American celebrations but decided to buy the book anyway. I shall lend it to British grandparents who have family working overseas explaining that it will not all be relevant but ideas can always be adapted across cultures.