Happy New Year! This is the last blog post for 2009, and I am looking forward to a wonderful 2010!

The New Year celebration is a time of reflection of days past, and to make changes for the days ahead.  The New Year’s holiday and tradition means many things to different people. It may mean a fresh start in life, a time to set goals or resolutions for the future, clearing out the clutter, quitting bad habits, or a beginning to daily affirmations and gratitude.

Whatever your goals are for 2010, take this opportunity to make plans to take care of yourself so that your home with your grandchildren is filled with peace, love, joy, wellness and harmony.  Here are 10 tips to help you make that happen:

G – Get assistance (financial, legal or group support) through your local, state and government agencies and other organizations.

R – Relax and manage your stress to help you gain focus and clarity on the issues and concerns in your household.

A – Ask questions of your grandchildren to build stronger relationships and reduce the risk of them getting into trouble.

N – Nutrition and wellness is important for all family members in dealing with stress.  Nutrition and wellness keeps us healthy in mind, body and soul.

D – Discipline strategies that incorporate love, positive reinforcement and consequences help build stronger and healthier relationships, and reduce conflicts and misbehavior.

C – Communicating, coaching, counseling and conflict resolution are options when issues of stress and emotions are creating conflict and mental health concerns, for both grandparents and grandchildren.

O – Organization of time and space are necessary with additional family members in the home, and help keep everyone on track.

A – Activities are a great way for grandchildren to reduce the stress they are feeling and help build communication, leadership and socialization skills.

C – Children’s temperament is an area all parents and grandparents should be aware of in order to build effective levels of communication and understanding among family members.

H – Hierarchy of Needs, developed by Abraham Maslow, can help explain some of the reactions your grandchildren may be experiencing with their new living arrangements.

I wish you and your grandchildren a safe, healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year!

Warm regards,

Kay Fontana
“The Grandcoach”

As we are in the midst of the holiday season, traditions often come to mind as we think of celebrating Thanksgiving in the U.S. and Christmas all over the world. As our children were growing up, we had many traditions; however, when they grew up and moved away to start their own families, we broke some of the traditions we had due to distance.  My husband and I began a few of our own.

Now that we are back in Arizona with our family and our grandson is living with us now, we are thinking about traditions that we can begin with him as well as our other grandchildren.  However, traditions don’t have to be limited to just the end of the year holidays.

The word tradition means to hand over, hand down or transfer.  Traditions can be inherited through social or family customs, stories that have been handed down from generations to generations, religious practices, customs or holidays. Even though traditions are most commonly associated with religious and regional holidays, traditions can be any time of year, in any part of the world, and around any event.

Starting traditions is a great way to connect with your grandchildren by creating an event of which they can look forward and remember for many years to come. Here is a list of possible traditions that you can start with your grandchildren.

• Weekly Family Events
  • Special Sunday dinner together as a family
  • Going to church
  • Friday rent a movie and make popcorn at home night
  • Saturday Picnic
• Regional or Cultural Events
  • Fairs
  • Festivals
• Holidays
  • Decorating
  • Making Crafts
  • Cooking Recipes
  • Singing Songs
  • Family Gatherings
• Social Events
• Parades
• Seasonal (Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer)
• School Activities
  • Sporting Events
  • Picture Day
  • Concerts
  • Clubs
  • Fundraisers
• Family Vacations
• Household Activities (Yes, even these can be traditional)
  • Cleaning
  • Organizing
  • Yard Sales
  • Decorating and Maintenance

Traditions can be created from any idea, event or activity that is repeated over time.  You can find that almost every day in the year has some type of tradition that has been carried down as a result of an event in history, somewhere in the world. For a list of unusual holidays that have been created out of traditions, go to http://www.holidayinsights.com/.  This website contains a very thorough list of unusual days, major holidays and holidays from around the world.   (Today, by the way, is Eat a Cranberry Day and National Cashew Day.)  You may be able to use this list to create your own traditions with your grandchildren.

Warm regards,

Kay L. Fontana
“The Grandcoach”

National Grandparents Day is a 31 year old tradition, founded Marian McQuade (1971 – 2008) whose passion was to help lonely elderly individuals in nursing homes.  The spirit of her legacy continues as this day marks a time of giving and sharing between grandparents and grandchildren.  But let’s not forget that everyday is Grandparent’s Day!

For those of you who are grandparents, I hope you have a very special day with your grandchildren. If you are fortunate enough to have your grandchildren living in your home, or at least living nearby, there are a variety of activities you can do to make this day special for both of you. You can:

* Put together a scrapbook with photos and artwork
* Have a tea party
* Play music and sing while baking cookies
* Make a special project together
* Read stories together
* Tell stories together
* Have a picnic in the backyard
* Paint your hand alongside your grandchild’s hand, add a special poem and date it for the future.
* Play a card or board game
* Put together a jigsaw puzzle
* Have a treasure hunt
* Make a time capsule
* Do a science experiment

If you live a distance away from your grandchildren, think about engaging in technology to connect with them.  The use of digital cameras, video cameras, web cameras, blogs, email and social networking is a great way of getting in touch with your grandchildren.

If you do not feel particularly computer savvy, a great resource to learn helpful tips for connect with your grandchildren is GrandparentTLC.  This is a blog full of useful tools to help you navigate through Web 2.0 technology (i.e., all those things I listed above).

Wherever your grandchildren are, I hope you have a wonderful day connecting with them and enjoy your day!

Warm regards,

Kay L. Fontana
“The Grandcoach”