Sharing Books with Your Grandchildren

Here are some ways to share books and words with your grandchildren:

• When you visit, bring a new book as a gift for each grandchild. Read the books together and ask your grandchildren what they are currently reading at home.
• If you live close to your grandchildren, plan a regular night of the week for reading aloud to them. Parents can go out or stay home and listen in! As your grandchildren get older, you can enjoy longer books by reading chapters in installments.
• Find a book from your grown-up son’s or daughter’s childhood and give it as a very special gift to your grandchildren. Read it together and talk about which parts were favorites of their parent.
• Help your grandchildren make a card for a relative or friend, decorating the outside. What message does your grandchild want you to put in the card? Help him or her write it.
• Send a letter or postcard to your grandchildren when you travel or just send a card from your home saying hello. If you are comfortable with the Internet, send an email. Your grandchild probably has his or her own email address.
• Give a note to your grandchild with a joke, riddle or poem written on it. Practice telling it together and ask your grandchild to memorize it for the next time you visit.
• Clip out articles from the newspaper about things that interest your grandchild and send them in the mail for him or her to read.

Read to your grandchildren over the internet!

Skype is a video phone call made through computers. This is a great way to read to grandchildren while actually seeing each other. (See www.skype.com for more information.) You'll find that they will be ready to enjoy that at a surprisingly young age, and their parents will enjoy the chance to get a break from child-care.