neil

December 17, 2017

Who is responsible for your Grandparents Rights?

  While there does exist more and more case law around Grandparents rights the burden is still on the Grandparent and the state in which the grandchild resides to find and exercise what rights we do have. I have written extensively on the site about preemptive strategies (ie. my support of my granddaughter in her drama efforts in the photo above),  as well as success stories about legal remedies in some cases. Each day we read about more access for […]
August 1, 2017

Grandparents rights are mostly self made.

There are things that we can do to exercise our grandparents rights when there are storms of family strife all around us. One evolution in the area of grandparents rights is that in most states Grandparents have a much easier time of showing standing in the courts. This may seem like a shallow victory but it is none the less a hard fought one. I can’t even fathom the frustration of Grandparents in the past that after being there for […]
April 20, 2017

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR GRANDPARENT POWER.

Let me say from the outset that I am an extremely Optimistic Grandparent. My 8 Grands and 2 Great Grands will tell you that Grandpa Neil is a Bliss Ninnie. I will cop to the charge of being a bit of a Pollyanna.   Please don’t construe that to mean that I am not aware of reality   In my 72 years, like the Farmers Insurance ad, I have seen a thing or two. In all families circumstances and tragedies happen. […]
April 9, 2017

SHARING YOUR WISDOM

  Having survived all these years gives us license to share what we have learned. I find that all I have to do is apply the Dale Carnegie principle of speaking in terms of other peoples interest and they will eat it up. I had just such an occurrence this morning. Each week when I speak to the grandkids I ask what fun stuff they are doing in school. My 11 year old bonus granddaughter went on a school field […]
March 21, 2017

TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN’ AND PRETTY FAST!

Even the rate of change is changing. I am almost finished reading “Thanks for being late” by Thomas Friedman. He wrote “The world is flat” back in 2005. It spoke to the world becoming one market, etc. He was spot on. In this new book he takes on the rate of change with technology today. As much as I dislike it, the future is NOW. It would be fair for you to ask what this has to do with Grandparents, […]
March 20, 2017

WE CAN’T GIVE UP ON GRANDPARENTS RIGHTS

I stay inspired to write on the subject of Grandparents Rights every time I look at my Grandangel’s picture. If you are suffering alienation from your grandkids my heart goes out to you. You all know by now that I advocate doing all you can before you choose the legal avenue. If legal action is the only way then you can arm yourself with several things that are helpful in court. In all I read about Grandparents Visitation rights cases […]
March 17, 2017

IT BREAKS MY HEART THAT WE EVEN NEED GRANDPARENTS RIGHTS

I get how complicated life can be. The fact that Grandparents rights even need to exist is troublesome. As I get older I have a better vantage point to see both sides of things. I admit to being Pollyannic but that doesn’t change the reality of what is going on in family life today. I recognize that there are bad actors on both sides of family dysfunction. One of the reasons I took a sabbatical from writing in this space […]
March 11, 2017

I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE DISPARITY OF GRANDPARENTS RIGHTS STATE TO STATE

HAPPY TIME!   A couple of years ago I did several posts on Senator John East’s attempt to write Grandparents Rights into a federal law to help unify and clarify what is now a very scattered and lacking patchwork of State laws. This committee process was long and detailed which just pointed out the fact that this is, admittedly, a difficult subject. While it may be difficult it is no less important. I am hard pressed to find anything more […]
March 8, 2017

CAN YOU GET YOUR NOSE UNDER THE TENT?

THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE   Being estranged from a Grandchild is an arrow to the heart. We will do anything to re-establish that connection. From the extreme of legally asserting our Grandparents Rights if possible, to, let’s face it, BEGGING. No matter where you are on this continuum it is important that you retreat to your Caring Grandparent place and make a strategic plan before you do anything. Without such a plan we are often tempted to […]