Long Distance Grandparents

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Hailz

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Is there anyone here (with kids) whose parents live far away from you, or are there any grandparents whose grandkids are in another state/country?

I just found out I am pregnant and it has really upset my parents who live in Australia (I live in America).

Does anyone have any tips as to how I can make this easier on my parents? How can I include them more both before and after the baby is born? I can’t imagine how hard it would be barely getting to see your first grandchild in person.
 
I live in Canada and my family lives spread out all over the US. My parents aare day’s drive away from me, so that’s good. I can’t imagine being a loooong, expensive plane ride away.

What we do is chat a lot. We video chat with my mom several times a week so the kids can talk to her. My oldest son writes letters to my grandparents. I talk to my sisters with some regularity. We send pictures over email and text. I keep a blog so that all my family can check in and see pictures of the kids and read about what we have been doing. We call on every major holiday and birthday. Every morning when we say our family prayers my kids LOVE to list all the relatives by name.

Take lots of pictures. Start a blog (you can make them private and invite your parents to see if that is your wish). When the baby is a toddler trace their hands and mail it to your parents. Send them pages with scribbles. When they can write, have them write your parents letters. Or write them for them until they can. Call. Video chat. Do whatever you need to do to keep in contact. It’s hard not getting to see them, I know. My in-laws live very close and get to be a huge influence in my children’s lives and it kills me that my family isn’t able to do the same thing. It’s life though.
 
As the far-away grandmother of 17 month old Henry, I highly recommend SKYPE.

We see and hear Henry at least 3 or 4 times a week. We last were with him at Christmas and we’ll be seeing him on Sunday, when we all gather for his uncle’s wedding. It will be too short a visit and with all the to-ing an fro-ing in the few days before the wedding there won’t be nearly enough hugging time. He knows Mami & Grampy. He sees me more frequently because our daughter works evenings so we Skype in the morning when I’m alone. He gets really excited when she happens to Skype when DH is here and Grampy shows up on the screen.

But at least we have what my parents and my in-laws never had, an opportunity to watch him growing up. We lived 3000 miles away from both sets of grandparents and they only got to see the kids a couple of times in 5 years. When we moved closer it was still only a couple of times a year. We called, they called. That was about the only contact.

Mom died a week from DD’s 6th birthday. The boys were 3 1/2 & 1 so DS2 never knew her and DS1 doesn’t remember her very much.

FIL died when the kids were 11, 9, 7
MIL when they were 13, 11 1/2, 9

They remember their paternal grandparents very well and DD had a close relationship with that grandmother.

Dad lived until they were all adults, but died before the advent of Skype. We lived 1000 miles away so we still only saw him once or twice a year.
 
I live in NC and my grand babes are in Northern Ontario, Canada. It’s a 24 hour drive. I get up there to see them 3-4 times a year, and they get down here every couple of years, but it’s still hard. We video chat regular. I read bedtime stories over video chat. My computer is always ready for them to talk whenever they want. It’s hard but the video chat closes the gap a little.
 
We live two time zones from my son and his wife and our grand daughter. We even lived in Asia for a couple years. Smart phones, Skype, and other modern gadgets keep us connected. Nothing replaces a hug, but she knows her whamma and puppah very well!
 
I have one grandson very close by and one across the country!

I agree about using Skype, though the 2 yr old doesn’t really stay still long enough to ‘chat’. 😛

I love seeing photos on facebook, and my daughter in love is good about texting pictures as well. We see them 2 times a year (3 if we’re lucky - our son is in the Navy, so we’re at their mercy.)

It’s hard; my heart aches being so far away from them.
 
My husband keeps in touch with his daughter and grandchildren (all 8 of them!) by facebook. The older ones all have their own accounts and keep us updated on their activities and my stepdaughter sends us almost daily pictures of the little ones. My daughter lives three states away and I made a point to be there for her when my grandson was born, it was a very difficult birth and I was glad I was there. Hopefully, your parents can work out a visit for you around the time your baby arrives.
 
Skype, Skype, Skype!!!

We are fortunate in that our first grandchild and his parents live 15 minutes away, and we care for him several times/week. Our second grandson is due in late October, and will be 2 states and 3 hours away. We will Skype frequently and likely see them at least twice/month.

That’s so much better than our parents had it; we’ve lived 1500 miles away from where we grew up for virtually all of our marriage, and the girls saw my folks only sporadically. My parents rarely traveled because my mother was a terrified flier. We often saw them only once, occasionally twice, a year, as my husband was limited in the times of year when vacation was allowed. My in-laws visited a couple times a year, and almost always for Christmas. It was always holiday-like when they visited, and those times were treasured.

I always regretted missing most family weddings, virtually all holidays, growing up with cousins around, etc. Our girls are very close to some cousins, for which I am grateful, and we have been fortunate enough to get to travel up to see my 92 year old Dad 4 times since the birth of my 16 month-old grandson. I believe that’s what keeps him going. 🙂

I wish we had Skype a couple decades ago; it would have been so much easier.
 
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