Re-Bonding

it’s impossible to imagine that the overwhelming joy and happiness that we feel as a grandparent would ever be threatened. When grandparents become alienated from the grandchild’s parents years could pass before they are able to re-connect. The grandparent paints a picture in their mind of picking up where the relationship left off. Sometimes that’s the case especially when the child is small, but when the child has stepped into another stage such as adolescence the terms of re-unification become different. Teenagers not only seek independence from their parents but grandparents as well, so if a grandparent has been absent during the transition from childhood to teen-hood, then the process could be complicated. The teens are not going to want to spend their free time with a grandparent. Conversations will be awkward, and displays of affection may be scarce. The grandparent will feel cheated because of the lost years and may sometimes feel a little left out. They may need to settle for whatever they can get time-wise, and learn patience and acceptance of the new terms of the relationship.