Kathleen Stassen Berger is a professor at Bronx Community College, City University of New York, where she has taught psychology for forty years. She is the author of the leading textbooks in human development, used by college students in all 50 states, 12 nations, in five languages. She is also the mother of four and the grandmother of three.

A wide-ranging look at the world of grandmothers and grandmothering. Berger’s book is a personal, in-depth examination of the many roles that female grandparents can fulfill in a world of overmanaged children with so-called helicopter parents. . . . In order to help these grandmothers smoothly acclimate to modern family dynamics, Berger offers them humorous, insightful, and often richly autobiographical advice. However, anybody who has living grandparents will find the book compelling as well. She offers useful tips on being a supportive aide to a pregnant granddaughter (or granddaughter-in-law) and on being a reliable source of infant-rearing help. Berger also addresses urgent situations in which a grandparent’s intervention may become necessary. In general, though, she advocates being a 'steady anchor' for parents and grandchildren—both intimately connected and “above the fray” while offering invaluable support. Any reader who’s been blessed with a wonderful grandmother may find such notions to be self-evident, but Berger shores up her observations with anecdotes and a great deal of engaging research. . . . A valuable, compassionate consideration of female elders’ work and worth.

• ContentsPrefaceDedicationPart I: Get up from the FloorChapter One: Excluded and on the FloorWhat is Wrong?Cohort and CultureGrandmothers and FamiliesChapter Two: Why Grandmothers?The Paradox of MenopauseEvidence for Grandmother HypothesisStill True?Chapter Three: Deep Within, On the Floor AgainEvery Part of the brainGenes, Selfish and NotOxytocin and Other HormonesChapter Four: Too Little GrandmotheringSome Care is EssentialWho is to BlameSuing for Visitation Rights Chapter Five: Too Much GrandmotheringCustodial GrandmothersThree Generation HouseholdsFinding the BalancePart II: At every AgeChapter Six: The Loving CoupleLesson One: Keep Comments to YourselfLesson Two: Respect the GatekeepersLesson Three: Recognize Linked LivesChapter Seven: The Pregnant CoupleLesson Four: Quiet Fears and Anxieties Lesson Five: Learn about InnovationsLesson Six: Build Relationships CarefullyChapter Eight: Birth and the NewbornLesson Seven: Remember the other people. Lesson Eight: Recognize Birth as a PivotLesson Nine: Prevent Postpartum Depression Chapter Nine: InfantsLesson Ten: Notice and AdmireLesson Eleven: Avoid Attachment WarsLesson Twelve: Don’t Feed the Baby, Unless….Chapter Ten: Young ChildrenLesson Thirteen: Twelve: Avoid AssumptionsLesson Fourteen: Accept Blame and MediationLesson Fifteen: Discipline with CareChapter Eleven: School ChildrenLesson Sixteen: Keep them Safe and SocialLesson Seventeen: Protect Victims and BulliesLesson Eighteen: Help with Education Chapter Twelve: Divorce and GrandchildrenLesson Nineteen: Strengthen the PartnershipLesson Twenty: Be a Steady AnchorLesson Twenty-One: Step into the FamilyChapter Thirteen: AdolescentsLesson Twenty-Two: Navigate Changing RelationshipsLesson Twenty-Three: Reconsider Suicide, Drugs, and SexLesson Twenty-Four: Learn TechnologyChapter Fourteen: Emerging AdultsLesson Twenty-Five: Don’t Advise Settling DownLesson Twenty-Six: Explore Values with Words and MoneyLesson Twenty-Seven: Take Care of Health and AbilityInto the FutureReferencesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

Kathleen Stassen Berger is a professor at Bronx Community College, City University of New York, where she has taught psychology for forty years. She is the author of the leading textbooks in human development, used by college students in all 50 states, 12 nations, in five languages. She is also the mother of four and the grandmother of three.

A wide-ranging look at the world of grandmothers and grandmothering. Berger’s book is a personal, in-depth examination of the many roles that female grandparents can fulfill in a world of overmanaged children with so-called helicopter parents. . . . In order to help these grandmothers smoothly acclimate to modern family dynamics, Berger offers them humorous, insightful, and often richly autobiographical advice. However, anybody who has living grandparents will find the book compelling as well. She offers useful tips on being a supportive aide to a pregnant granddaughter (or granddaughter-in-law) and on being a reliable source of infant-rearing help. Berger also addresses urgent situations in which a grandparent’s intervention may become necessary. In general, though, she advocates being a 'steady anchor' for parents and grandchildren—both intimately connected and “above the fray” while offering invaluable support. Any reader who’s been blessed with a wonderful grandmother may find such notions to be self-evident, but Berger shores up her observations with anecdotes and a great deal of engaging research. . . . A valuable, compassionate consideration of female elders’ work and worth.

• ContentsPrefaceDedicationPart I: Get up from the FloorChapter One: Excluded and on the FloorWhat is Wrong?Cohort and CultureGrandmothers and FamiliesChapter Two: Why Grandmothers?The Paradox of MenopauseEvidence for Grandmother HypothesisStill True?Chapter Three: Deep Within, On the Floor AgainEvery Part of the brainGenes, Selfish and NotOxytocin and Other HormonesChapter Four: Too Little GrandmotheringSome Care is EssentialWho is to BlameSuing for Visitation Rights Chapter Five: Too Much GrandmotheringCustodial GrandmothersThree Generation HouseholdsFinding the BalancePart II: At every AgeChapter Six: The Loving CoupleLesson One: Keep Comments to YourselfLesson Two: Respect the GatekeepersLesson Three: Recognize Linked LivesChapter Seven: The Pregnant CoupleLesson Four: Quiet Fears and Anxieties Lesson Five: Learn about InnovationsLesson Six: Build Relationships CarefullyChapter Eight: Birth and the NewbornLesson Seven: Remember the other people. Lesson Eight: Recognize Birth as a PivotLesson Nine: Prevent Postpartum Depression Chapter Nine: InfantsLesson Ten: Notice and AdmireLesson Eleven: Avoid Attachment WarsLesson Twelve: Don’t Feed the Baby, Unless….Chapter Ten: Young ChildrenLesson Thirteen: Twelve: Avoid AssumptionsLesson Fourteen: Accept Blame and MediationLesson Fifteen: Discipline with CareChapter Eleven: School ChildrenLesson Sixteen: Keep them Safe and SocialLesson Seventeen: Protect Victims and BulliesLesson Eighteen: Help with Education Chapter Twelve: Divorce and GrandchildrenLesson Nineteen: Strengthen the PartnershipLesson Twenty: Be a Steady AnchorLesson Twenty-One: Step into the FamilyChapter Thirteen: AdolescentsLesson Twenty-Two: Navigate Changing RelationshipsLesson Twenty-Three: Reconsider Suicide, Drugs, and SexLesson Twenty-Four: Learn TechnologyChapter Fourteen: Emerging AdultsLesson Twenty-Five: Don’t Advise Settling DownLesson Twenty-Six: Explore Values with Words and MoneyLesson Twenty-Seven: Take Care of Health and AbilityInto the FutureReferencesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

Kathleen Stassen Berger is a professor at Bronx Community College, City University of New York, where she has taught psychology for forty years. She is the author of the leading textbooks in human development, used by college students in all 50 states, 12 nations, in five languages. She is also the mother of four and the grandmother of three.

A wide-ranging look at the world of grandmothers and grandmothering. Berger’s book is a personal, in-depth examination of the many roles that female grandparents can fulfill in a world of overmanaged children with so-called helicopter parents. . . . In order to help these grandmothers smoothly acclimate to modern family dynamics, Berger offers them humorous, insightful, and often richly autobiographical advice. However, anybody who has living grandparents will find the book compelling as well. She offers useful tips on being a supportive aide to a pregnant granddaughter (or granddaughter-in-law) and on being a reliable source of infant-rearing help. Berger also addresses urgent situations in which a grandparent’s intervention may become necessary. In general, though, she advocates being a 'steady anchor' for parents and grandchildren—both intimately connected and “above the fray” while offering invaluable support. Any reader who’s been blessed with a wonderful grandmother may find such notions to be self-evident, but Berger shores up her observations with anecdotes and a great deal of engaging research. . . . A valuable, compassionate consideration of female elders’ work and worth.

• ContentsPrefaceDedicationPart I: Get up from the FloorChapter One: Excluded and on the FloorWhat is Wrong?Cohort and CultureGrandmothers and FamiliesChapter Two: Why Grandmothers?The Paradox of MenopauseEvidence for Grandmother HypothesisStill True?Chapter Three: Deep Within, On the Floor AgainEvery Part of the brainGenes, Selfish and NotOxytocin and Other HormonesChapter Four: Too Little GrandmotheringSome Care is EssentialWho is to BlameSuing for Visitation Rights Chapter Five: Too Much GrandmotheringCustodial GrandmothersThree Generation HouseholdsFinding the BalancePart II: At every AgeChapter Six: The Loving CoupleLesson One: Keep Comments to YourselfLesson Two: Respect the GatekeepersLesson Three: Recognize Linked LivesChapter Seven: The Pregnant CoupleLesson Four: Quiet Fears and Anxieties Lesson Five: Learn about InnovationsLesson Six: Build Relationships CarefullyChapter Eight: Birth and the NewbornLesson Seven: Remember the other people. Lesson Eight: Recognize Birth as a PivotLesson Nine: Prevent Postpartum Depression Chapter Nine: InfantsLesson Ten: Notice and AdmireLesson Eleven: Avoid Attachment WarsLesson Twelve: Don’t Feed the Baby, Unless….Chapter Ten: Young ChildrenLesson Thirteen: Twelve: Avoid AssumptionsLesson Fourteen: Accept Blame and MediationLesson Fifteen: Discipline with CareChapter Eleven: School ChildrenLesson Sixteen: Keep them Safe and SocialLesson Seventeen: Protect Victims and BulliesLesson Eighteen: Help with Education Chapter Twelve: Divorce and GrandchildrenLesson Nineteen: Strengthen the PartnershipLesson Twenty: Be a Steady AnchorLesson Twenty-One: Step into the FamilyChapter Thirteen: AdolescentsLesson Twenty-Two: Navigate Changing RelationshipsLesson Twenty-Three: Reconsider Suicide, Drugs, and SexLesson Twenty-Four: Learn TechnologyChapter Fourteen: Emerging AdultsLesson Twenty-Five: Don’t Advise Settling DownLesson Twenty-Six: Explore Values with Words and MoneyLesson Twenty-Seven: Take Care of Health and AbilityInto the FutureReferencesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author