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    Get Ready to Be a Grandmother: In Less Than Nine Months!
    Get Ready to Be a Grandmother: In Less Than Nine Months!
    Get Ready to Be a Grandmother: In Less Than Nine Months!
    Ebook152 pages1 hour

    Get Ready to Be a Grandmother: In Less Than Nine Months!

    By Dr. Susan: The Gramma Guru

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    About this ebook

    It's a real shocker-such incredible news! You are going to be a grandmother! What should you do? Where do you begin? Remarkably, your offspring is pregnant and you are having a grandbaby in Less Than Nine Months! It's hard to imagine this complex transition. You gave them life and now they give you new life!

    Get Ready to Be a Grandmother is an insightful journey through the trimesters of pregnancy, delving into the communication issues and challenges of this life-altering, newborn dimension called Grandmotherhood. Get Ready is your definitive Guidebook to Grandmothering, laying a concrete foundation for the road ahead.

    A lifelong educator and PR professional communicator, Dr. Susan: the Gramma Guru teaches you how to maximize your time, energy, and resources through involvement rather than intrusion. If you are joining the ten thousand Baby Boomers becoming grandmothers every day, Get Ready is the book to curl up with during the exciting months ahead!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateAug 29, 2008
    ISBN9780595916061
    Get Ready to Be a Grandmother: In Less Than Nine Months!
    Author

    Dr. Susan: The Gramma Guru

    Dr. Susan: The Gramma Guru? PhD, Penn State in Communications; professor of PR for more than a dozen years MA, University of Denver in Mass Communications; operated a PR/AD firm for nearly a decade BA, University of Arizona in Early Childhood Education; a first grade teacher for ten years Visit www.GrammaGuru.com to find advice, public engagements, and book signing information. Write DrSusan@GramaGuru.com

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      Book preview

      Get Ready to Be a Grandmother - Dr. Susan: The Gramma Guru

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      First Trimester

      1

      In the Beginning:

      The Genesis of Being a

      Grandmother

      Phase 1    Realize

      Phase 2    Reflect

      Phase 3    Reconnoiter

      Phase 4    Research

      Phase 5    Renew, Reminisce, Rejoice

      2

      Welcome to the Hood: Grandmotherhood

      Phase 1    Serenity

      Phase 2    Security

      Phase 3    Saliency

      Phase 4    Salubriousness

      Phase 5    Silence

      3

      Be a Creative and

      Crafty Grandma!

      4

      Communicating With Your

      Pregnant Child

      Phase 1    Look

      Phase 2    Listen

      Phase 3    Learn

      Phase 4    Leap

      Phase 5    Live, Laugh, Love

      Second Trimester

      5

      Naming Nana

      6

      Techno-Wizardry

      7

      Silence the Cycles of Abuse

      8

      The Granny Room

      Getting Started

      Decorating the Granny Room

      Third Trimester

      9

      Money Matters

      Egalitarian Giving

      Gifting for a Lifetime

      10

      Preserving Your Family Legacy

      Cultural Preservation

      Medical Histories

      Genealogies

      Family Shindigs

      11

      Prenatal Formulae

      12

      Patiently Waiting

      Conclusion

      Internet Resources

      This book is dedicated to my parents who shared

      fifty-eight incredible years, and to my grandparents who always cheered me on and told me that nothing is

      impossible—may they all rest in peace;

      And to my extraordinary families;

      Especially to my four precious grandchildren who give me more love than I ever knew existed;

      And to my loving and adoring husband;

      And to the ten thousand new grandmothers every day—

      Welcome to Grandmotherhood!

      Acknowledgments

      I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to all the dedicated teachers around the world, especially those who have inspired me. Their absolute dedication to mass education and the advancement of humankind is most laudable. Very special thanks to my friend and mentor, Carolyn French, PhD, of Fifi Oscard Agency, New York City, for her guidance and encouragement. Fundamentally, your assistance has made this work more comprehensive and meaningful.

      As any writer knows, proofreading your own work is especially difficult. Accolades and orchids go to my husband Dwight for poring over my words for too many hours. Kudos to my trusted family and very patient friends: my dearest Mother Lucille, my late Aunt Kay, my sister-in-law Karen, Polly, Bill and Jane, Fred and Sharon, Bob and Carol, Nancy and Kent, Mark and Jeanne, and John and Karen.

      Introduction

      Dear Twenty-First Century Grandmothers,

      Welcome to your new world—Grandmotherhood! The seed for Get Ready to Be a Grandmother in Less Than Nine Months! began to germinate in the fall of 2000 when I learned I was going to be a grandmother. I found out shortly before my father died. My youngest daughter sent me a present of pastel yarns and a note that read Get Ready to Be a Grandmother! Even though I lost my beloved dad, my first grandchild was on the way to take his place. The news was so uplifting it made me realize that the circle of life is embedded in our love and attachment to those whom we cherish. I was motivated to be a better grandmother than I was a mother, and I needed to know what I could do before the baby was born. It seemed as though I was called to a higher, more meaningful purpose in life.

      Like the catalyst for many authors, my inability to find information about how to be a grandmother was the motivation for this project. Unfortunately, there are not many resources available to address the concerns and assuage the worries about the life-altering transformation from mother to grandmother. Having labored over this project for many years, it feels like I am giving birth again (to a book this time) and creating something organic. Now that I have four grandchildren, I have had the opportunity to Get Ready to Be a Grandmother for a total of thirty-six months. Many of the thoughts and concerns that evolved during that three-year period are the linchpins for the topics addressed in this book.

      This work is humanistic and practical—without being overly scholarly. I conducted some primary, qualitative research with over two hundred grandmothers to determine their attitudes and opinions about their status as a gramma. These insights, along with a broad spectrum of secondary research, are the credible resources for this book. It is based on experiential learning, constructive knowledge, basic human communication theories, social psychological research, and a few empirical studies. Certainly, grandfathers can glean insights from this book, but Get Ready is primarily targeted to women over forty in order to avoid any gender discrepancies.

      Words of American Bandstand’s Dick Clark echo throughout our many decades of change, Music is the soundtrack of our lives. Music truly defines who we are as individuals. I believe the Beatles’ music (primarily written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) survives as the soundtrack for our lives, us Baby Boomer grandmothers. Each chapter begins with an epigraph of a Beatles’ song that is sure to play a resonant chord in our long-term memories, evoking recollections of younger days when we were moms.

      FACT: There is a baby born every eight seconds in the United States, which equates to more than ten thousand grandmothers every day or nearly four million per year. There are an estimated thirty-five to forty million American grandmothers and by 2020 there will be an additional forty million. With these staggering statistics, it is easy to see why grandmothers need support, encouragement, and education, with a special focus on family communication issues.

      Life is quite an amazing journey. We are all blessed to be on this earth and one of my goals in life is to continually unravel the complex communication issues with our children and grandchildren. As all of our relationships ebb and flow like the waves of the sea, we move in and out of harmony with others. As Dr. Susan: The Gramma Guru®, I want to be a cheerleader for you (and thousands like you), facilitating your emerging role as a grandmother and elevating the quality of life for yourself and your families.

      Whether you are a brand-new grandmother or a seasoned veteran, I hope you find this journey into Grandmotherhood to be one of the most exciting and empowering sojourns in your life. Walk down this new road with renewed strength of purpose to unite and to protect your family. Immerse yourself in this amazing experience as a grandmother, delighting in the anticipation of your new grandbaby’s presence!

      Hold on tightly to this book and enjoy the ride,

      Dr. Susan: The Gramma Guru®

      Internet: www.GrammaGuru.com

      E-mail: DrSusan@GrammaGuru.com

      First Trimester

      1

      In the Beginning:

      The Genesis of Being a

      Grandmother

      All your life—you were only waiting for this moment to arise!

      —The Beatles, Blackbird

      You receive a mysterious box without a return address but there is a clue—the postmark is the zip code where your adult child lives. Curiously, you open the secret box to find some gorgeous aquamarine wool with detailed instructions on how to knit a baby blanket. And then you find the kicker—a cryptic, cursory note that reads: Start knitting, grandma!

      Your husband comes home and tells you there is a huge surprise in today’s newspaper written just for you. He hands you the paper and suggests you sit down first and then check out the personal ads in the classifieds. Nervously, you plop yourself on the couch and pour over the words: To our wonderful mom, born on June 1, 1948: Hey Mom, guess what? We are pregnant so Get Ready to Be a Grandmother in Less Than Nine Months!

      If you have a creative family, you could receive some paint, wallpaper, and drapery samples from your child, asking for your approval of the colors selected for the new nursery! Or the fax machine might beep the arrival of a black and white photo looking strangely like an ocean, or a Rorschach ink blot, or (my heavens), it’s an ultrasound image of a tiny … oh my gosh, it’s your new grandbaby!

      Or you may be at your favorite eatery celebrating your fifty-something birthday and all the family is gathered and relaxing around the table. After a sumptuous meal and assorted libations, you are opening presents from everyone and having a fabulous time. All of a sudden a tiny pink box appears, with a silky pink ribbon, seemingly from nowhere. What’s this? you ask. Where did this come from? Sheepishly, no one responds but everyone is grinning like the Cheshire Cat. You still have no clue what is in store for you until you open the pink box and find an empty frame for a baby photo and then

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