How To Cope With Grandparents Problems

Grandparents and grandchildren share a very unique relationship; however parents could have issues with grandparents. It would really help if parents focus on positives and work on weaknesses so that kids could not only get love and affection, but also a lot of treats.

Strategies that really work in grandparents problems: 

1) The first problem is visiting grandparents when they live far away; it could be sometimes easier and cheaper to suggest that grandparents come down and get them plane tickets.  It would also work great if both your family and the grandparents meet in some neutral territory; this would leave pleasant memories in the children’s mind, especially when you both share a strained relationship. In between visits you could arrange to get in touch through Skype or AOL or even call on the phone.

2) Quite naturally some grandparents wish to meet your family every holiday; this can be best done by spending one or part of each holiday with each grandparent, with some days to be spent as a family. An essential part of positive parenting lies in treating grandparents in a respectable manner, thereby conveying important lessons of how you should also be treated.

3) Possessive grandparents may want to visit and babysit the baby all the time. This is remedied by conveying to them that you appreciate their love and affection they, but would also like the child to have a one to one relationship with each parent. You should diplomatically convey what works and what not.

4) We have the other extreme of grandparents that would simply not babysit; there could be various reasons like their feeling uncomfortable and not wanting to overstep boundaries.  This could changed by hiring a babysitter to give them a lending hand or suggesting they take the baby out alone to show him/her off to their friends; this helps get a break.

5) It is very difficult to overlook grandparents that smoke and drink; smoking could damage the tiny lungs of the baby, and increase the baby’s risk for chronic ear infections, asthma and sudden infant death syndrome. It is best to set a no-smoking rule in your home and not send your infant often to the grandparent’s home; it is also advisable to set the no drinking rule at home, this applying to other caregivers also.

6) There are many more grandparent’s problems and effective strategies; however the last one here is to be strict with what grandparents feed the child, especially when they stay with you. Prepare food ahead of time and make the grandparents aware that there are certain snacks and meals; food items like doughnuts, fries and burgers should be given only as special treats. If they just visit once in a while; doughnut holes could not do much harm, with your eating habits influencing the baby more.

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