As Grandparents, become involved with your grandchild

By Pat and Terry Mercier, Co-Chairs

As grandparents of an eleven year old grandson with autism, we realize the value of being involved in his life. Because we see him every week, we have developed a close relationship and have become more knowledgeable about his needs. He feels comfortable with us and looks forward to seeing us. Grandparents relate to their grandchildren in a very special way.

We want to encourage you to become involved with your grandchild. It is a joyful challenge that will reward all of you. The more time you spend getting to know your grandchild, the more you will feel comfortable. You are truly valuable to this child. If you are concerned about taking full responsibility for your grandchild when you are together, ask a friend or hire someone to help you. We suggest that you plan an activity or outing that you can share. You can get good suggestions of places to go and things to do from other GAN grandparents.

Our upcoming meetings in June and July will be focused on activities with our grandchildren. In June you will learn about summer programs and local resources available all year that are particularly suitable for our grandchildren. In July we will have a family picnic in a local park that provides a playground, supervised swimming, basketball and other activities. You will have the opportunity to meet other grandparents, parents and grandchildren. We encourage you to identify other families that live in your local community so that you can arrange for play dates or outings with them. Please let us know if you would like to help us plan for our July family event. More details will be available soon.

We have learned valuable information at the GAN meetings that we share with our children. They realize more and more that they are not alone in this struggle. Grandparent support, and giving our children well deserved respite time, can only make it better.
We all benefit. We look forward to meeting you soon at GAN events.

Grandchildren Activities Committee