It’s 3 months until Mothers Day, and 7 months until Grandparents Day. So we figure it’s time to have a celebration to highlight Grammies. Here is your chance to nominate your Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Grammy, Grandma, Nana, Grannie, Oma, Tutu, or Abuela for the original Grammy Award! Just for fun.

Rules for making your nomination

• The nominee must be a real person, a grandmother; and someone who is your own grandmother, or “adopted” grandmother, mother, or wife; who you know personally. (Either still living, or passed on.)
• One entry per comment. If you want to nominate more than one of your grandmothers, create separate comments for each.
• No men allowed! Sorry, this time it’s just for grandmas.
• You must tell why your grandmother deserves to win your Grammy Award. And don’t just say because you love her or she’s nice. Come on. Be specific. Give us details. Use as many tautologically long-winded ramblings as you like. Hey, no need to be brief here. Superfluously interminable wordiness is fine. Go ahead and write with pleonastically redundant verbosity.
• Be gushy and mushy if you want, but be real and tell the truth. Your grandma may seem like Superwoman to you, but can she really fly?

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete. ~Marcy DeMaree

Get a free certificate for your Grammy

Here’s the deal. We will email you a certificate that you can print or email to your grammy. (Don’t worry. The email you enter in the comment form below will not visible on the page.) When you write your nomination in a comment below, be sure to include her title and name as you want it printed. (Example “Grammy Tanda Packer”).

So nominate your grandma now. Have fun! Comments are now closed.

- Grandpa Shayne

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Recently, Grammy Tanda and I have been wondering and discussing what all of us can all do to help encourage more grandparents to get online — particularly elderly grandparents. Several of our readers have written insightful comments lately about this concern. They have given examples of grandparents who use computers and technology to connect with their family, and those who don’t. See the discussion -

Connecting with grandchildren: Technology brings instant gratification

Technology-Love-Connection – “Reaching out” using the internet – part two

One reader tells of her 93 year old friend “who is on her computer everyday emailing her family.” Another reader reports that her “94 year old mother will not allow anyone to [help her get] on a computer. If she would, she could see her great-grandkids.”

Perhaps you are a grandparent who is privileged to have one or more of your parents still living. Or maybe you are a parent who would like to facilitate a healthy relationship between your children and their grandparents and great-grandparents. In any case, it’s a fact that many older grandparent are left out when it comes to using the latest communication devices. Sometimes this is of their own doing.

Why doesn’t everybody welcome new technology?

Lack of desire? Lack of knowhow? Lack of money? Fear of the unknown? It couldn’t be stubbornness?

Would you agree that much of the problem has to do with fear? What is it about technology that is so intimidating to some folks?

Throughout history, some folks have been slow to embrace new inventions — the horseless carriage, the automatic washing machine. (Do you know anybody who still had an icebox years afters the refrigerator was invented?) I’m not trying to be critical here, just pointing out human nature.

Is it important for grandparents to accept new technologies for communicating?

We’re not just talking about conveniences that make life a little easier; we’re talking about communicating with our family, with our grandkids! Hey, isn’t that what life is all about — love and family? If technology can help bring our family together, then let’s find ways to use it! Let’s help older folks see what they’re missing out on, and help them get set up.

When we refer to technology here, we mean good technology — newfangled gadgets and devices, websites and services — that can bring joy to families and bring them closer together.

Do you realize if it weren’t for Edison we’d be watching TV by candlelight?  ~Al Boliska

More readers’ comments: Jody says “Just a little hello via email can really keep your relationship alive.” Joy wrote, “Internet communication [is] great for video calls, sharing pictures, emails, etc. Grandparents need to keep up with the times and communicate with the younger generations on the media the kids are comfortable [using].” Do you agree?

The benefits if communication work both ways. Grandparents have so much wisdom, life experience and love to offer. Grandchildren crave and deserve to know them better. Don’t you think so?

What can we each do to help?

We live in a marvelous age where technology abounds. We need only to find it, adopt it, and enjoy it’s benefits. That’s our mission here at GrandparentsTLC, to help grandparents discover technology and show how to use it.

Often what I’ve seen is that folks just don’t know what they are missing. There have been times that I wanted to convince someone that they just had to try something new, but they resisted. The more they resisted, the harder I tried. (Sound familiar?) I’ve found that it’s better just to show them what they’ve been missing without trying to “sell” them on it. Pretty soon they’ll say, “I want that!” Take a lesson from the car salesman: don’t tell them about the features, show them the benefits. Then let them test drive.

Here’s an idea I was thinking: Take your laptop over to their house. Show them emails from family, digital photos and albums, family sites, etc. Imagine their delight when they say, “Oh, how adorable!”

We would like you, our dear readers, to help brainstorm solutions by commenting below. Let’s come up with ideas for helping more grandparents get online.

As always, we will continue exploring more websites, digital tools and devices that can have a positive impact on our family relations.

We appreciate you! Grandpa Shayne

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