Cheryl Harbour - Good to Be Grand: Making the Most of Your Grandchilds First Year

PRAISE FOR GOOD TO BE GRAND

When you start to read this book, be prepared to smile, learn, think, reflect, reminisce, and chuckle all the way to the end. Armed with current knowledge on baby care and child development, you will be ready to enjoy and enrich your family life in the role of a grandparent.

LOIS KERCHER, PHD, RN, past president of American Organization of Nurse Executives

Many of my patients prepare for having a baby by reading up on the topic, but Good to Be Grand is specifically for grandparents and offers a wealth of important information most grandparents probably don't know. I wholeheartedly recommend Cheryl Harbour's book to couples looking for an excellent resource to pass on to their own parents in preparation for grandparenthood.

LISA MAZZULLO, MD, OB/GYN, coauthor of Before Your Pregnancy: A 90-Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception

Cheryl Harbour's Good to Be Grand is a great read for any new grandparent. I recommend the book as a resource for parents and grandparents alike. Harbour's organization around What's Still True?/What's New? gives grandparents and new parents a chance to open a dialogue about generational differences in parenting while exploring together what is best for the newest member(s) of the family. Good to Be Grand is solidly grounded in current knowledge of child and family development yet accessible to anyone interested in learning more about the life-changing experience of grandparenting, which Ibelieve to be potentially the most important family role of this century.

ROMA STOVALL HANKS, PHD, professor and department chair for the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work and research director at the Centerfor Generational Studies, University of South Alabama

Becoming a grandparent is full of blessings as well as often unexpected challenges. In this engaging book, Cheryl Harbour shows us that grandparenting isn't just a simple reboot of the parenting role, but will require learning new skills, both communicative and practical, as well as rediscovering forgotten joys. She is a wise and appealing companion for this journey and she has written a lively, accessible, and informative guide that will be welcomed by anyone embarking on this wondrous phase of life.

MICHAEL O.L. SEABAUGH, PHD, psychologist and writer

If only every stage of life had a book like this to go with it! Good to Be Grand not only informs but highlights the opportunity to approach grandparenting with intention and along the way discover new areas of personal growth.

LINDA RENZI, MA, LCPC, Clear Path Center for Well Being

Copyright 2016 by Cheryl Harbour

Foreword 2016 by Hillary Rodham Clinton

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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First E-Book Edition: April 2016.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Harbour, Cheryl, author.

Title: Good to be grand : making the most of your grandchild's first year / Cheryl Harbour ; foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Description: Dallas, Texas : BenBella Books, Inc., [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015036663| ISBN 9781942952329 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781942952336 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Grandparenting. | Grandparent and child.

Classification: LCC HQ759.9 .H3645 2016 | DDC 306.874/5dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036663

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To Jackson, who opened my eyes to new possibilities,

and to his parents, Raleigh and Brooke-Sidney,

who made Jackson possible.

To Bob, Todd, and Ryanwho paved the way.

In memory of Jean Acton, the grandest grandmother.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

I cannot stop grinning. I have that grandmother glow.

My friends had told me there is no greater joy than being a grandparent. Of course they're right. I know that now.

I know the boundless love, awe, and gratitude that filled my heart when I held Charlotte for the first time. And I know that being a grandparent is different than being a parent.

When my good friend Cheryl Harbour asked me to write this foreword for Good to Be Grand, just after Charlotte's arrival, I couldn't say no. Cheryl and I shared our childhood in Park Ridge, Illinois. We've also marked life's great milestones together, from graduations to marriages to the births of our childrenand now Cheryl and I both celebrate the greatest blessing: grandparenthood. As newly minted grandmothers, we proudly trade photos and swap stories about our brilliant infant grandchildren. It's often said that children don't come with instructions. Well, neither do grandparents. When Bill and I found out that Chelsea and Marc were expecting a little one, we wanted to learn all we could and understand our new roles. We were looking for information and inspiration. Good to Be Grand is a blend of both.

This book is not meant to replace a scientific journal or in-depth research on child developmentyou may want to digdeeper and become an expert in all areas on your ownbut it is a good place to start. It reminds us of those basics of child care that remain as true today as they were when Bill and I raised Chelsea. But it is also a concise compendium of up-to-date thinking and practices, including some insights into both popular trends and emerging science that may save us from wondering and worrying.

For example, new brain research is underscoring just how important the first five years of life are for later development. In a baby's growing brain, seven hundred new neural connections are forming every second, laying the foundation for learning, behavior, healthall the things children need to grow up to be productive adults. We now know that loving adults play a critical role in this development, because when we talk, read, and sing from the moment a baby is born, we are helping those neural connections form and literally helping to build the baby's brain.