[cocotbo]

We live in Montana. My parents live in Maine. My husband's parents live in Minnesota. My brother lives in California.
My son is my parents' first grandchild. Were it not for modern technology - digital cameras, DVRs and national calling plans, our families wouldn't be able to experience as much of our son as they do. We send photos (prints) every month, DVDs of home movies just about every 3 months and we talk on the phone at least once per week.
With the mobility of our modern society, there must be others who have found themselves in the same sort of situation. What do you do to keep your child and his/her grandparents, aunts and uncles connected?

[mcmama]

Technology is a great way to keep in touch with adult children. Camera phones, digital cameras, wav files - all wonderful. Don't have grandchildren yet. (Praise God.)
When my kids were little, my mother in law lived 2,000 miles away. It was always up to us to travel, and very little accomodation was made for that effort. We exchanged pictures a lot - I think she liked that because she could show us off without putting up with us in real life. I don't think she got the opportunity to know who we really were - but she chose that. It always bothered me, because my parents were dead and would have traveled to the ends of the earth to be with us. My own grandmother took time in her life to visit us frequently, even though she lived at a distance. She had the flexibility, and my parents didn't because of school, work, etc. She was such an important part of my life!
Technology enables us to keep in touch, exchange photos, talk, etc. But it really takes a mutual desire to have the personal contact which is so important. No way around that! Plan those trips. Maybe all of you can coordinate time together.

[cocotbo]

Originally Posted by mcmama

Technology enables us to keep in touch, exchange photos, talk, etc. But it really takes a mutual desire to have the personal contact which is so important. No way around that! Plan those trips. Maybe all of you can coordinate time together.

So true! The desire to have personal contact really has to be there.
My husband's parents make a point of coming out to visit us about every 3rd month. The last time my parents visited was when my son was born, over a year ago. Prior to my son's birth, they visited us twice in 5 years.

[heritagemom]

My parents have both passed away, and my younger children will never remember spending time with grandma and grandpa. But luckily I discovered a company that allows people to write and publish their own books, and so now I'm working on a book about my dad and his naval career because my little boys LOVE boats and ships and "war" hero things. They will be able to "know" him by having a book about him and being able to share it with others if they want to. And they will know who they are and that they come from a brave and patriotic background. Thank HEAVENS for technology for reasons like this too!
www.yourlifepreserver.com check it out!

[cocotbo]

What a great thing to do for your kids - and your dad!

[lpelham]

We have a web page where we put the digital pictures of Will for grandparents and friends. My parents are in Tennessee and Randy's are in Idaho. We are wherever the Marine Corps sends us - oh yeah, North Carolina right now. I love that we can take little tiny 2 minute movies with our digital camera. I put those one the web page too so the grandparents can see Will "in action." We also call each week.


Because I am an older parent, I want to start writing down things I know about my family history, my mom and even stuff I've done because by the time Will is old enough to care, I will be at least in my 60s


Libby

[Kaiberie]

Originally Posted by cocotbo

We live in Montana. My parents live in Maine. My husband's parents live in Minnesota. My brother lives in California.
My son is my parents' first grandchild. Were it not for modern technology - digital cameras, DVRs and national calling plans, our families wouldn't be able to experience as much of our son as they do. We send photos (prints) every month, DVDs of home movies just about every 3 months and we talk on the phone at least once per week.
With the mobility of our modern society, there must be others who have found themselves in the same sort of situation. What do you do to keep your child and his/her grandparents, aunts and uncles connected?

I'm going to track this thread cause we're about to move several hundred miles from my home (and the city where most of my family is) to a new city. I think, because mom is getting the hang of all things online, it'll be easier to keep in touch, but I'm still worried that she'll miss stuff. There are things that cameras and photos just won't catch

Kai

[writerchick]

Something my dad used to do when my sister and I went off to college, which would also work for long distance grandparents, aunts & uncles etc... is he wrote a weekly letter and sent a copy to each of us. By writing every week, we got all the little details and we knew which day to look for it in the mailbox. My kids are used to e-mail and such, so they get really excited when they get mail. An upside for my dad was he stuck each letter in a binder--instant journal!

[Lauri]

I so agree that technology can help us stay in touch with distant relatives.

I just posted a blog on a new toy that allows grandparents to play long distance with their kids.

We live so far away, we are always looking for good ideas.

Lauri

[owen1880]

I think it is awsome that modern technology makes it so easy for people to stay in touch.
My son also lives far away so they sent us the fist ultrasonic scan of our grandchild.