Life is not only a cycle but it is also about finding contentment as the years go by. One of the more beautiful things in life is to not only have a healthy family but to also be able to connect with them, no matter the variables of distance or generational age differences.
As the modernist society moves to try to remove barriers that would have been significant in the past, in order to keep everyone connected there have been some clear positives especially for the elderly. There are even apps for grandparents who would want to see and talk to their children and their children’s children in real time.
This has become more of a necessity in the past few years as the coronavirus pandemic made it even more important for senior citizens to keep their distance from the ones that they love and who love them.
As no form of human interaction is ever one way, it is important to note the effect that remaining close to grandparents has on their grandchildren. When grandparents have a high-level of involvement it improves the wellbeing of their grandchildren, as grandparents provide acceptance, patience, love, stability, wisdom, fun and support to their grandchildren which can lead to fewer behavioral and emotional problems.
Children who grow up with greater emotional closeness to their grandparents are less likely to be depressed as adults and grandparents who have a close relationship with their grandchildren have been shown to have increased brain function, protect against depression and increase their lifespan.
Fostering these types of relationships is one of life’s few win-wins. So to cultivate a close relationship between grandchildren and grandparents, frequent contact must be encouraged. Whatever the challenges, these are the things that should be done to start and to keep intergenerational solidarity strong between the two sets.
Creative Ways To Connect With GrandChildren
Play Games
The beauty of being around in these times is the ability to take offline favorites and have them be easily translatable online. Board games such as Scrabble and Pictionary now can be enjoyed in their online versions through a desktop/laptop browser or smartphone.
This is not only fun but could be a great tool to spark deep and meaningful conversations that can also last a long time as both the grandparents nor the grandchildren don’t need to be active online at the same time to play. A fantastic bonding opportunity.
Read Books Together Online
Reading together plays an important role in strengthening the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. Now grandparents can tell stories over video chat or make an audio recording of reading a book that their grandchildren could listen to later.
Neural research has found that being read to, improves the logic skills, lowers stress levels and even rewire the brains in younger children to amplify their language proficiency.
There are even smartphone applications that allows the grandparent to flip through digital picture books together with children while video chatting and ones that provide immersive video call tools, that have integrated games and books that grandparents and grandchildren can read, no matter where they are in the world.
Watch TV Together
Streaming services like Netflix allows people to host viewing parties which could be a grandparent enjoying their grandchildren’s favorite shows. This is a great way to form a bond as most children are addicted to television.
There recently have been free applications for smartphones that allows grandparents to video chat with their grandchildren while watching TV shows and movies. They are compatible with many popular streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney Plus and are available across device models.
Video Chat
Talking over video gives grandparents the opportunity to do activities together like drawing and cooking virtually but in real time.
Grandparents should try to set up regular video calls with their grandkids and plan what collectively they are going to do in advance. That way both grandparents and grandchildren would have something to look forward to until the next time they can physically be around each other.
Work On Projects From Afar
Grandparents could write the first paragraph of a story and send it via email. Then have their grandkids add a paragraph. Keep going back and forth until the story is finished. There is also the ability to do the same thing with a progressive picture. Start a picture on a large piece of paper.
Leave it unfinished with lots of room. Then the grandparent could physically mail it to their grandchildren so they can add to it and so on. Who knows, maybe a grandparent could start planting from the same seeds in a separate garden from their grandchildren and compare notes as the plants grow.
Share Special Photographs
Grandparents should ask their grandchildren to show what their lives are like by taking pictures of their friends, pets, schools, or trips. The grandchildren could ask their grandparents to see embarrassing photos of their parents when they were young. This could be a secret way to share jokes and bridge the generation gap.
