Marianne Waggoner Day - Camp Grandma: Next-Generation Grandparenting―Beyond Babysitting

PRAISE FOR CAMP GRANDMA

Over the river and through the woods to a totally different kind of grandmother! In this unique and wonderful book, Day offers a new and refreshing perspective on being a twenty-first-century grandmother. Readers will experience an enjoyable story and gain ideas and creative ways of helping their own grandchildren grow strong, think critically, and have fun all at the same time. Funny, wise, clever, practical, and helpful, Camp Grandma presents a new layer to consider in the relationship between grand-parent and grandchild.

LAREE KIELY, PhD, President, WeWill, Inc.

By sharing her life experiences, Marianne Waggoner Day demonstrates how to engage our grandchildren in meaningful opportunities to build their personal skills, as well as their loving relationships with each other and their families, while having fun at the same time. She opens our eyes to what it means to bring our whole lifes experiences to the art of being a grandparent and offers insightful and real-life examples of how to make a positive contribution as a grandma in the lives of four very different grandchildren. She shows us that the time todays active and capable grandparents spend with their grandchildren can be an enriching and impactful experience that goes well beyond our traditional view of grandparents as babysitters.

NANCY J. LAVELLE, PhD, founder and President/CEO, Total Education Solutions, Inc.

In a time when mobility, social media, and rootlessness characterize the experience of so many of our children, Marianne Waggoner Day describes a wonderful approach that draws on the wisdom of a former era.

JOYCE CROFOOT, PhD, clinical psychologist

An entertaining and effective way to build constructive, long-term relationships with your grandchildren. Good for grandmothersand grandfathers, too.

ROBERT LEECH, financial planner and grandfather

Camp Grandma not only is a terrific story of how to make the most of your relationships with your grandchildren but also sheds light on the role of grandparents and how we are valued in our society. With a smart and unique perspective on grandparenting, Day uses her experience to connect with her grandchildren and establishes Camp Grandma, a program she created for her grandchildren to teach them about the world we live in. In her book, Day takes the reader on this heartwarming, intelligent, and funny journey to her awareness of the importance of grandparenting and the passing on of information, knowledge, and wisdom to the new generation.

JULIE ANNE PERKINS, former educator and mindfulness instructor

Camp Grandma has a positive and uplifting energy that encourages and inspires this longtime teacher and brand-new grandma to open her heart to new adventures, new learning, and new loves with her grandchild.

SUSAN SNYDER, MS Ed, education specialist; general education and special education teacher; Adjunct Instructor, University of La Verne; and new grandma

Delightfully written with clarity and humor, Camp Grandma is a wise and inspirational book for grandparents and grandparents-to-be. Its packed with great ideas you can customize for grandchildren of any age. Its a resource Ill turn to again and again.

JO BONITA RAINS, educator and cultural diversity specialist

This book gives grandparents an insightful look and guide to help their grandchildrens development and find value and purpose in their lives while giving them a new sense of value and purpose in their ownan essential need for healthy human existence for all generations. A truly remarkable book that redefines what it means to be a grandparent and gives grandchildren the skills they need to last a lifetime.

LUCINDA A. RIBANT, MFT, marriage and family therapist

As Marianne Waggoner Day eloquently describes her precious camp, one realizes that a grandparent can shed the rules and restrictions that accompany parenthood. Additionally, her camp is seen through the lens of a corporate personone who encourages playing and working together and problem solving toward common goals.

MICHELE A. WAGMAN, speech and language pathologist

CAMP GRANDMA

Copyright 2019, Marianne Waggoner Day

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, digital scanning, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please address She Writes Press.

Published 2019
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 978-1-63152-511-7
ISBN: 978-1-63152-512-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018958906

For information, address:
She Writes Press
1569 Solano Ave #546
Berkeley, CA 94707

She Writes Press is a division of SparkPoint Studio, LLC.

Cover and interior design by Tabitha Lahr

All company and/or product names may be trade names, logos, trademarks, and/or registered trademarks and are the property of their respective owners.

Names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of certain individuals.

For my family, with all my love

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.

Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

I originally considered calling this book Please Dont Call Me a Babysitter. Not because I have anything against babysittersheck, I regularly care for my grandchildren in the absence of their parents. I resist the term because it doesnt begin to describe what grandparents are to our grandchildren. I contend we do far more than just babysit, though that has become a term I often hear nowadays in the context of time grandparents spend with their grandchildren. Consider instead that along with being caretakers, we are role models, teachers, historians, storytellers, confidants, mentors, and most importantly, trusted examples of how to love and be loved.

Of course, I didnt understand the potential of the role when my first grandchild was born. I was at the top of my thirty-plus-year career as a business executive. I continued working five more years (and welcoming several more grandchildren) before I elected to step down from my management positionI wanted to take my foot off the corporate gas pedal, so to speak (still unaware of what was in store for me as a grandparent).

For retirement, my intention was to focus more on myself, a common choice for women who have worked for years trying to have it all, family and career. I started planning for my retirement years. The theme would be balance. I would enjoy the freedom to take better care of my health, exercise on a regular basis, start meditating, and reconnect with my friends and social relations, while staying professionally active with some consulting and business coaching assignments. Oh yes, and travel! It all sounds great, right? A nice balance to it. I felt quite confident that my last chapter was well-defined and sensibly planned out.