Quick Tips – Love Across the Miles
· If you plan a weekly phone call, be sensitive to noises in the background – dishes clinking or a baby crying and offer to call back at a more convenient time.
· When talking with a grandchild, ask open ended questions, “Tell me about…or what was it like” rather than questions that can be answered with a “yes, or no” response.
· Keep a pad of paper by the phone and jot down the names of your grandchild’s friends so you can ask about them in future calls.
· Sing a familiar song to a baby or toddler such as “twinkle, twinkle little star”.
· Give your grandchild a special name, use it every time you talk on the phone or see each other and he’ll soon associate it with you.
· Laminate and send pictures of yourself to use as a night-night board for them to kiss before bedtime.
· For an older grandchild, record family history on a CD – tell them what life was like when you were their age, how their folks met, what happened the day they were born.
· Remember how long a week was when you were a child – it’s that way for your grandchild too. Sending things often is more important than the contents…send a note in a balloon, a stick of gum or a riddle one day and the answer the next.
· Paste a photo of you and your grandchild onto cardboard, cut it into puzzle pieces making the difficulty appropriate for the child, and pop it in the mail with the note, “Put this together and see who loves and misses you!”
To be honest, alot of these we can use with our own kids, especially if we have to be away on business or family matters!
Thanks to Sue Johnson for this article!
