Grammy Tanda and I love to spend time with our grandchildren in person, but since most of them live in three other time zones, we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like. So some of our most pleasurable moments are when we are chatting “face to face” over the Internet with our grandkids.

If you enjoy talking with your grandchildren on the phone, you will love video chatting even more! It’s video conferencing software you run on your computer that lets you talk with and see your family. It’s just like in the Jetsons cartoon—live audio and video.

What could be worth more than seeing the grin on your grandchild’s face when they see you talking with them on the screen? They’ll be proud to show you how much they’ve grown and to show off their first missing tooth. Even grandbabies will respond to your voice and smiling countenance.

Somethings are just better communicated face to face, where you can see expressions and gestures. Compared to letters, email and even telephone calls, video calls can make conversations much more interesting and intimate. You’ll have more to talk about, and your grandkids will more easily remember you or your face.

Now watch this video. It’s full of examples and cool ideas for you.

A grandparent’s job is to give positive encouragement; to be a cheerleader and a talent scout. ~Grammy Tanda Packer

Fun things you can do on your video chat: read storybooks and show them the pictures, make up stories, sing, dance, play games, help with their homework, be playful, play peek-a-boo, make funny faces, and tell knock-knock jokes.

Ask your grandkids to sing and read to you, and tell you jokes and stories. Have them show you their drawings, crafts, homework, new clothes, acrobatics and somersaults.

Options for free video chat software

You’ll need a computer, a webcam with a built-in or separate mic, and a broadband Internet connection. Different programs use their own protocols, so you and your family will need to use the same software. Each of the following programs allow you to make video calls worldwide.

iChat from Apple is an application that comes free with every Macintosh. If you have a Mac, iChat is the best software for video chatting. You can even have a video conference with up to 3 other Macs at once. Since it uses the AIM protocol, iChat works well with AIM on other computers.

AIM is an application you can download to your computer. It uses the same protocol as iChat.

Skype is another popular program for making video calls. Download the program and sign up for a free account. Computer-to-computer calls and video calls are free.

Google voice and video chat is integrated into gmail in your web browser. It’s a great option if you and your family have gmail accounts. Anyone can sign up for a free gmail account.

How to get started

1. Choose an application and install it. (Consider what your family may be using.)
2. Launch the program.
3. Create a screen name and password (first time only).
4. Share your screen name with your family.
5. Arrange a time to call.
6. Turn on your webcam.
7. Log in to your chat program.
8. Initiate the video call by clicking the appropriate buttons, or click “Accept” if your family initiates the call.
9. Click the video icon by their name to see their video. (Note: Some programs make you click a button to allow them to see your video.)
10. Enjoy!

Videophones are another option for video conferencing. These are special phones with an LCD screen. No computer is needed, but they need a high-speed Internet connection. You and your family both need the same brand of videophone.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then live video is worth ten 10,000 words. ~Grandpa Shayne Packer

We know you’ll love video chatting with your grandkids! So go try it.

Enjoy – Grandpa Shayne

Announcement: This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by Susan Adcox, About.com’s Guide to Grandparents.

We’d like to hear from you. Please comment below to tell us about your videochat. What fun things did you do on the call with your grandkids.

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[Today's guest writer is Yvonne Perry. Yvonne is a freelance writer and editor, award-winning Amazon.com bestselling author, podcast host, blogger extraordinaire, newsletter publisher, Internet marketing guru, and an outstanding keynote speaker. She is a graduate of American Institute of Holistic Theology where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Metaphysics.]

I was completely out of the mold when I made my mother a grandmother when she was only 39 years old. Most people in my graduating class were college bound and weren’t thinking of starting a family, but I was ready to be a wife-and-a-mother (one word). For some reason, I had the goal of being a teenage mom. I met that goal when I gave birth to my son only three weeks before I turned twenty. But, Mom never complained about being made into a granny. Like me, she was glad to have a little one around again.

These days, it seems like couples aren’t waiting as long before starting a family as they once did. It has become the norm for folks to become grandparents in their early forties. I became a grandmother when I was only 40 years old. That’s when my son and his wife gave me the blessing of Sidney.

When a child is born, so are grandmothers. ~Judith Levy

Sidney has been a joy since day one. He began staying overnight at my house as soon as he was weaned. We have enjoyed many outings together. We’ve gone to the circus, the museum, the holistic fair, flea markets, shopping malls, restaurants, and the zoo. We’ve seen Dora the Explorer twice at Tennessee Performing Arts Center, visited several parks and playgrounds, gone canoeing, watched lots of movies, taken out-of-state road trips, and made our annual summer trip to Nashville Shores water park. I have step-grandchildren that I also enjoy spending time with, but since they live in another state eight hours away, I don’t get to color and do arts and crafts with them as often as I’d like.

Being a grandparent at an early age gives me a chance to be kid again while I can still fit in the park swings, climb the rope feature, and fly down the sliding board without throwing up. My grandkids keep me young. That’s why I was so excited to find out that I was getting a new shipment from the stork in 2009. This year I’ve been blessed with four new grandsons: Lochlan in April, Liam in June, Jonas in July, and Payton in October. My kids never have to ask twice or worry that I’m too busy to keep their babies when they need a break. I’m glad to steal all those hugs and kisses and I don’t even mind changing a dirty diaper or getting in the floor to be on their level. I had my husband get the baby equipment down from the attic so I could set up a crib in the spare bedroom. Every time I go shopping, I look for new baby stuff.

With Sidney being my first biological grandson and the only grandchild near me for many years, I have to admit I’ve been a tad biased toward him. I wrote a series of stories for him starting when he was three years old. In them, I related some of the things we did together and mentioned the insight he has brought me. Now that Sid is almost nine years old, he helps me write the stories. I finally published our book titled The Sid Series ~ A Collection of Holistic Stories for Children. It’s available at TheSidSeries.com. Come on by and take a look inside the book—a feature provided by freado.com.

That’s another thing about being a young grandparent, I’m in touch with the latest technology and have most of the gadgets that the younger generation plays with—except for a Playstation, Game Cube, or Guitar Hero—much to Sid’s disappointment. My mom has video games at her house. I have two computers at my house and Sidney has his own folder on my PC, complete with his bookmarked and favorite Web sites.

Sidney is so grown now, that I was able to interview him on my podcast to talk about The Sid Series. How’s that for technology and young age grandparenting?

- Yvonne Perry

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[Kay Fontana, "The Grandcoach," is our featured guest writer today. Kay helps baby boomers overcome the challenges of raising grandchildren. She is a former teacher, certified coach, mother of 3 and grandmother of 7.]

Spending time with your grandchildren is a gift and a blessing. For grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, they receive the gift of time every day.

For grandparents who live far away or do not have the opportunity to see their grandchildren often, the joy of seeing them and them seeing you, still exists with the use of modern technology, specifically, audio, video and digital photos. Today, I would like to focus on digital photos.

The 3 basic steps to sharing photos on the Internet

• Selecting the camera to use
• Selecting the photo viewing program to use
• Importing the pictures into the photo program

Selecting the camera

If you do not have a digital camera yet, I encourage you to do so. Digital cameras now range in price of $59.00 all the way to thousands of dollars. The inexpensive ones work very well and serve their purpose. They are actually higher quality and less expensive than they were 10 years ago.

Look for a camera that uses a memory card that fits into your computer. On your computer, you may see something like Compact Flash, Micro Drive, SD*MMC*MS, Pro*XD, or something similar to that. Your computer’s owner’s manual can help you select the correct media storage device. Most cameras also offer the option of downloading the picture using a USB cable. If you are shopping online, the product details should give you all the information. Just make sure your camera’s storage device can be used in your computer, or your camera can be connected to your computer to import the pictures.

Selecting the photo viewing program

There are several online photo services that let you organize, edit and share your photos. Many are free. The 3 that I use are Picasa, Flickr and Kodak Gallery. Today, I will focus on Picasa.

Picasa is free photo editing software from Google. Enjoy this two minute video about Picasa.

If you have a Google email (gmail.com) account, the Picasa service can be accessed by your Gmail account. If you do not have a Gmail account, you can create one for free at Google.com.

You will also need to install the Picasa program on your computer, which is also free. If you don’t see it as an option on the Google home page, just enter picasa.google.com in your browser to bring it up, and click “Download Picasa 3.”

Importing photos

Once you have created your Gmail account and installed Picasa, you are ready to download (or import) your pictures from your digital camera. Once you have set up the Picasa application and have downloaded pictures from your camera, the Picasa program should automatically open every time you insert a media storage device in your computer (or connect via USB cable).

Once you have downloaded the pictures from your camera, you can click on “Web Albums” on the top right portion of your screen, which will take you directly to your Google Web Album in your Internet browser.

You can also access your web album by going to www.google.com to log into you Gmail account. When you are in your account, click on “Photos,” which is located on the top left portion of the page. If you don’t see it, then click on “more” and it will be under that.

It takes a little time to maneuver around Picasa, but it is my favorite one to use. When you become familiar with the program, you can sort photos into different albums. You can also set up privacy features on your albums so only your family and friends can view selected items. Google also has a lot of nice features that are great for sharing with your family, such as calendars, blogs and groups, but more on that another time.

If you don’t have a digital camera, or have one and haven’t set up an account online to download your photos, I encourage you to do so. Picasa is free to use, and once you set it up, you can have your family upload photos to your albums for your whole family to enjoy.

Warm regards,

Kay Fontana
“The Grandcoach”
www.CoachingForQuality.com

[In future posts, GrandparentsTLC will review more ways of sharing photos online, including Apple's Macintosh iPhoto application and MobileMe.]

Have you used Picasa or another photo sharing program? How has it enabled you to connect with your family and grandkids? Please share your comments. We enjoy reading about your experiences.

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[Editor's note: Grandpa Shayne Packer is also a columnist for GRAND Magazine's new Cyber-Savvy GRAND column.]

“You’ll never get me on one of them newfangled computers!” Have you ever heard a grandparent say that? Are they intimidated by the Internet? Not willing to give today’s technology a try? We’ll show you what you can do to get them online.

Who should read this

• Grandparents who are privileged to have one or more of your parents still living.
• Parents who would like to facilitate a healthy relationship between your children and their grandparents and great-grandparents.
• Anyone who knows a grandmother or grandfather who is reluctant or afraid to dip their foot into the internet.

Technophobia: the fear or dislike of advanced technology. Why doesn’t everybody welcome new technology? Fear of the unknown? Afraid they will ruin or break something? They don’t understand and don’t remember?

One problem is that many senior grandparents just don’t know what they are missing — photos of the grandbabies, emails, family blogs, Facebook, text messages, video chats, sharing their life story. They are not enjoying all the new opportunities to communicate with their families; sometimes from their own stubbornness.

The benefits outweigh the fear

A friend shared a story about a coworker, a grandfather who refused to learn to send text messages using his mobile phone. My friend encouraged the grandfather to learn so he could send text messages to his grandchildren. “Just try it.” Two weeks later, the grandfather reported that he was having a wonderful time texting with his grandkids.

Grandparents need to keep up with the times and communicate with the younger generations on the media the kids are comfortable using. This will enhance the quality of the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren when they may not actually see each other for many months.

Grandparents should realize that being “computer smart” is a way to get closer to their grandchildren. Also, the World Wide Web is a wonderful way to find ideas of things to do with grandkids when they visit.

My oldest sister is a great example of someone who has embraced internet technology to connect with her family. When her daughter recently encouraged my sister to get Facebook, she quibbled, “Why would I want on Facebook?” Here daughter simply replied, “Because that’s where the photos of the grandbabies are!”

So her daughter got on the computer and set up a Facebook account right then. Now my sister has really enjoys Facebook, as well as other websites, email, etc.

God gave us loving grandchildren as a reward for all our random acts of kindness. ~Janet Lanese

3 steps to get grandparents online

1. Sit together at the computer and give them a tour around the Web — all the fun family stuff they’re missing out on. First, you drive. This is especially important for the reluctant grandparent. Do this before you let them know you intend to help them get online. Let them get hooked first.

2. Set up one website at a time for them, and let them know what you are doing (in simple terms). See the Recommended websites below.

3. For each website, put them in the driver’s seat. Let them try things one click at a time. Go slow. Be patient. Go through it twice: first for comprehension, second to create written step-by-step instructions. If needed, go through it a third time to help build their confidence.

You can help enrich a grandparent’s life. Now go do it!

Enjoy! – Grandpa Shayne

Action Items

• Help them choose a computer. I recommend an Apple Macintosh laptop because it is so easy to use and comes with cool, free software.
• Set up a free gmail account.
• Collect a list of family websites and blogs.
• Create accounts on Facebook or other sites where the family posts stuff.
• Create easy-to-remember login names and passwords, and write them down.
• Bookmark all websites. Show them how to access these bookmarks.
• Set them up a free blog or their own on WordPress.com or Blogger.com. (optional)
• If they have a digital camera, show them how to post photos online.

Recommended websites

• Gmail.com
• Facebook.com
• MyFamily.com
• StoryOfMyLife.com
• ScrapBlog.com

More resources

• Our other blog posts about connecting with grandchildren
• Another post “How to help grandparents get online“
• Many senior centers, libraries, colleges, etc. offer classes in basic internet and computer use.

If you know someone who is not online, please print and mail this to them.

Do you have more ideas for helping more grandparents get online? We welcome your comments.

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I just came across a request on one of the FaceBook groups I belong to — the “Grandparents not over the hill yet” group. (I don’t know about you, but this grandpa is still climin’ that proverbial hill.)

The request came from Richard Wilson, a student at Leeds University in England. He is researching the use of computers by those aged 50+. He needs people to take two short surveys. Since I also have an interest in this kind of data as well, I thought I would help Richard out by posting it here on our blog, so all of our grandparent friends could have a chance to give a little service for the benefit of scientific research.

So please take a moment and answer these two quick online surveys. They are completely anonymous. Thank you.

• Survey one – Using Computers
• Survey two – Your Computer

Thanks – Shayne