Technology is a cool tool to connect with grandkids

Thank you for stopping by our grandparenting blog! Grammy Tanda and I really enjoy publishing this blog for grandparents. It’s been getting more and more popular, which is exciting! Our mission here is to enable grandparents to love and connect with grandchildren. We show you ways that you can connect and communicate with your grandchildren using all kinds of cool technology. We believe technology itself is neither good nor evil; it’s just a tool. It’s how people use tools that is important. As grandparents, you and I choose to use technology for good; for the righteous purpose of bringing our families closer together. So, this website focuses on helping you, as grandparents, learn about cool technologies you can use to connect with your grandchildren. Technology is cool when used as a tool to connect with your grandkids.

We live in a marvelous age of technology. But sometimes it can be intimidating: the internet, email new websites, inventions, cool tools, state-of-the-art, newfangled gadgets, and other technology. That’s why here at GrandparentsTLC, we offer free information and tutorials that show you exactly how to use cool stuff. Grandparents are cool! We don’t want to be left out while our grandkids are enjoying the 21st century.

I’m sure you’ve had experiences where you were nervous when faced with using some new gadget or tool. Then someone showed you how to use it. You tried it, and your confidence waxed stronger, until it became a useful tool. Why do you suppose it is that teenagers seem to figure these things out boldly and quickly? Take the internet for example. Do you think they are afraid of breaking the computer if they click the wrong button? Of course not.

Fear sometimes causes us to have reservations about trying something new. Yet, we all know grandparents who love doing something so much that they just do it and get good at it. You’re probably that way yourself. Take genealogy for example. I have older sisters that amaze me with their level of expertise using genealogy software and websites such as FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com. They love it too much not to learn how to figure it out.

That’s how it is with grandparenting — we all love spending time with our grandchildren so much that we make special treats for them, travel to see them, spend lots of money on gifts (sometimes too much? ) — need I go on?

Something magical happens when parents turns into grandparents. Their attitude changes from “money-doesn’t-grow-on-trees” to spending it like it does. ~Paul Linden

As grandparents, we are willing to learn to use cool new technology, if it brings us closer to our grandchildren. Take digital photography for example. When our families send us an email with photos of the grandkids attached, or posts photos on a website, we want to be able to see them quickly, and perhaps save and print them. So, you should invest in a digital camera of your own and learn how to post your own photos online. 

Now days, it is so easy compared with when I first started using digital cameras when they came out. I wrote Macintosh camera software for Kodak, who, along with Apple, invented the first consumer digital. Back then it was quite a process to download the photo files from the camera to a computer, create a place on the web for them, and then upload them to the website. Today it is easier than ever to get photos from camera to computer to web, like my son and I did for his baby’s photos. Much of the process is automated. Especially if you own a Mac with the free iLife software. (Gee, I wish Apple paid me a commission!) I’ll create a tutorial about this sometime if you like. What do you think?

So, technology is cool when used as a tool to connect with your grandchildren! As one of our readers commented on the blog here, “It is vitally important that all grandparents learn to use the web and technology to stay close to their grandkids.”

What are some cool gadgets, tools and websites you have enjoyed using the help strengthen your grandparent-grandchild connection? We’d love to reading your comments.

All the best! Shayne