U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 reveals that there are around 56 million grandparents living in the United States. The U.S. contains nearly 2.5 million households with children being raised by their grandparents. At the same time, 57% of the grandparents known to be raising their grandchildren are still in the work force.
80% of grandparents in the U.S. have either visited or spoken with their grandchildren by phone in the past month. Among preschoolers with employed mothers, 28% are regularly cared for by their grandparent during the hours their mom spends employed outside the home – there was no other type of child care arrangement more common than caregiving by grandparents.
An increase in divorce, among many other far-reaching cultural shifts, has created a parenting crisis—one that has significantly increased the demands and challenges of being a grandparent. Just in time for Grandparents Day 2008 (September 7), best-selling author Dr. D. Ross Campbell has penned a “new world user’s guide†for grandparents written in the style of his million-copy bestseller, How to Really Love Your Child. How to Really Love Your Grandchild…in an Ever-Changing World (Regal, August 2008) provides vitally important advice for grandparents who are often left to pick up the pieces of their grandchildren’s broken families—and broken hearts.
You thought there could never be a love like the love you have for your child. But then you held your first grandchild. The emotions that flooded you focused to an intense desire to protect and make his or her world secure. Yet it’s no breaking news that children face a vastly different world from the one you grew up in—or even the world your children knew. The forces of popular culture are no longer child-friendly. Too often, attitudes and ideas all around us obstruct character formation in children, rather than build it up.
Although you long to know that your grandchild will be safe and secure in such a world, maybe you live a great distance away. Or perhaps there’s some friction between you and your grandchild’s parents, or maybe you just don’t keep up with your grandchild’s interests the way you would like. Whatever your circumstances, being a grandparent is a unique and wonderful opportunity to stand in the gap against the often dark and discouraging elements of our culture in order to positively influence your grandchild’s future.
How to Really Love Your Grandchild is a book of hope and encouragement for you to provide the extra love and emotional support that only a grandparent can give. Through stories that read like your own life, Dr. Ross Campbell’s I’m-in-this-with-you advice will provide failsafe ways to stay close to your grandchildren—no matter what.
“The insights and practical advice on these pages are needed by every grandparent who sincerely wishes to leave a positive legacy for their grandchildren.†~ Dr. Gary D. Chapman, author of the bestselling book The Five Love Languages
