Any Good Ideas for Keeping in Touch with Out of Town Grandpa

I agree with the web-cam idea. My in-laws are in Germany and we all get on the web-cam every Sunday and have breakfast together. My toddler knows his Oma and Opa through this and their yearly visits. They can talk and even sing and dance together. technology is wonderful!

When I was about 3 my family moved out of state and away from my grandparents. One thing that we did that I still remember is I would record a message for my grandparents on a tape and mail it to them. When they got it they would send me a message back. My grandma who had a wonderful voice would sometimes sing for me and my grandfather would read me stories. They had a lot of animale and they would tell me about them. We talked like we would if we saw them every day, about every day stuff. Today I did.... The weather was.... It was not only fun but very memorable. Just an idea.

Dear A.,

Get Yahoo instant messages and use Avatar characters, you can dress them up choose back grounds - animation sounds - children can pick their own sounds and characters, dress their own characters up with lots of different apparel, backgrounds, hair styles, hair colors, and lot of extras, like eye colors, scarves, animals, and so on.

My great grandson is two and he picks his own
characters and options that he wants. and as many as he wants, and can send them . You don't always getting a response immediately, but it will come - If grandpa is on line, then you will know it, and vice versa, and you can chat immediately. Fun. C. N. and Susan A. We love it.

Get a webcam (assuming you have a computer) and when you talk to your dad, get him online with a webcam of his own and show your daughter that you're talking to Grandpa. She will love being able to talk to him on the phone and look at him on the computer screen as well. Plus, she will be seeing his face, and wont be likely to forget him as easily!

A. ~ we have a web cam and love it. We keep in touch with my husband's grandma, uncle, mother, sister and nephews all out of state with it. They are not that expensive. I think we paid about $60 for ours, its s Logitech and we picked it up at Best Buy. We run it on Skype and it doesn't cost anything to talk as long as you want, so considering the money you will save in just one year in long distance calls, it's truly the way to go and then you father and your son can see each other so when your dad does come out or you go out there, your son is familiar with how your dad looks. It's wonderful, we just love it. And we all sit in front of the computer so it feels like we're all in the same room just visiting. The other ideas from ladies about writing letters and sending pictures is an awesome idea, I love it too.

Web Cams. We use that so that my son can stay in touch with my grandparents that live out of town. This way he is able to see them and hear them. It has been great. I have freinds that do the exact same thing with their out of state family. Hope this helps.

myspace.com

You can make a private page for family. Upload photos and video easily. It's pretty simple, easy and free.

I was gonna say myspace too. I have one for my 4 year old (who obviously cant read or type herself) everything is set to private which means you have to give permission for anyone to see any info except the name and age. I had to lie though because i think you have to be 14 to have an account but just adjust the birth year. Its awesome, you can put pics up and they can send messages back and forth to eachother, and comments about the pictures too. My daughter loves to leave comments on other peoples pictures like "your baby is cute and pretty etc."
Also via mail. Who doesnt like to get mail. have your 2 year old color pictures and grandpa can do age appropriate letters and pictures back. Dont forget the phone.

try purchasing a web cam, preferably one with a microphone built in. Then you could chat and visit over an IM site (such as MSN Live, Yahoo!, ICQ, or any other site) for free. My husband and I use one everyday so he can watch our son (he's 8 weeks old today) while he is working. My older son loves to see daddy at work and will sing to him. My husband and I leave it on all the time so we can see/interact without bothering the other. We have the Microsoft Live 3000 webcam, it works pretty well but not perfect. Just be aware you'll need two - one for you and one for your dad.

All of my family and my husband's family live out of town. There are pictures of everyone around the house at some point, so I will periodically ask my son who everyone is by pointing to each one and asking him. He is 2 years old. He remembers everyone even though he doesn't see them that often. And when he gets a gift from any of them, I tell him who it's from, and ask if he knows who that is. He always does!

I also just read about the MySpace. I personally use Blogger for my son's journal. I think it's much more user friendly, nicer looking, and I think it seems more personalized.

My mom reads a book out loud on a cassette tape, and then mails the book and tape to my son; so he can have Grandma read him books whenever he wants! She also talks to him on the tapes. He then talks on the tapes to her, and we send them back.

We take lots of pictures and constantly talk about visits in between them. "Remember when ..." My inlaws also talk to my daughter on the phone a lot, so that helps. We also have lots of gifts (handmade quilts and such) at home from my inlaws, so we're always talking about where they came from.

A.,

I don't have any suggestions on the Grandpa issue but I wanted to commend on your "about me." I was on bedrest for 15 weeks with numerious hospitalizations with my first child. It was an absolute nightmare with lots of preterm labor. My doctors told me that if I got pregnant again, it would likely be more of the same thing but probably would start earlier and be worse. My second child was a surprise (I don't know if I could have woke up and said "let's get pregnant" after my first go round!). And comparatively speaking, the pregnancy was really easy. I still had preterm labor but was able to manage it with lots of rest, lots of drinking water and a much calmer attitude the second time around. No drugs, no hospitalizations, no huge trauma, no strict bedrest (I went out of work about a month before he was born as a precaution - he was 3 weeks early like his brother) and a successful VBAC at the end. So it is possible to go through absolute hell the first time around and have the second time really not too bad.

Good luck to you!

T.

we have found that the kids love 'talking' to grandpa on the computer. we have an inexpenseve webcam and so does grandpa. we use skype to call each other. my 1 year old and my 5 year old giggle and can wave and show off in the living room.

Something very cute my friend does for her husbands parents (whom lives on the east coast) is lets her 2 yr old son "write letters" (pictures) to them, and once a week he collects them in an envelope so they can mail them to Grandma & Grandpa. Grandma & Grandpa also send him a letter at least once a month, and often once a week. She has put them into a scrap book for him. (She also sent his parents a scarp book for her son's letters to them. She is hoping that when he's older he will be intrested in his first letters to his grandparents.)

Webcams work wonders! Both sets of grandparents live a plane ride away, and we all have webcams and use skype.com (Free) to call and talk to one another. In fact, when my daughter (20 months) misses her grandparents, she points to the computer monitor and says "Call PAPA?"

At least she'd get to interact with your father and see him in stead of just on the phone...

Hey A.,

Well, I think just have your daughter draw pictures for Grandpa and have him write a note to her at least a couple months. Maybe have him send his pictures occasionally or put his picture up on the fridge or somewhere your daughter can see it everyday. Also, let them talk on the phone maybe once a week or so. Just a few ideas - hope that they help.

Also, I was curious to know about your photography business. Do you have a website with pricing and examples? Where are you located?

Thanks,
B.

Does he have a computer? Buy him a web cam :) Its fun and your daughter will love seeing herself and grandpa on the screen :)

Send videos to grandpa and ask him to send your baby some. Another idea that my mom (i'm in CA she's in LA) has not done but I wish she had.. is to video or audio record your dad reading a favorite book or singing a song. Let your daughter watch family videos as well. I bought a picture pocket chart and filled it with out of town family pics. I feel like my daughter is closer to my mom than her gp's that live an hour away because when my mom comes for a week or we go visit we spend so much more time and quality time. Good luck! She'll never forget him.

Hi A.,
My first thought is a web cam, but if Grandpa is not up on his computer skills, then there are also telephones with screens that serve the same purpose. I saw one in action and it was a pretty neat little tool.

My next thought is for you to visit Grandpa 2 times also. You could then have quarterly visits.

My last suggestion is to meet Grandpa half way. Find some towns half way and go to the chamber of commerce for that town and see what fun activities they have. Sometimes there are nice ghost towns or historical buildings to visit in small towns. We will be going to New Mexico in August and I found the Billy the Kid monument, which we will visit while we are there. That will really make my husband happy.

Good luck and send me a link to your website, I shoot too, but in Vegas. I would love to see your work ~ especially if they are newborns. www.carlastephens.com

My daughter is almost 3 now and my Mom has always lived in New York, while we live in Las Vegas. LOTS of pictures and I tell her when Grandma is on the phone. We just purchased web cams (less than $100 ea.) and so now they see each other on the computer on a daily basis and talk like she is right here. I love it.

Does he have a computer if so use webcams to keep in contact. That is how we help our family struggle years wothout seeing one another. you get to see and hear them . Best of luck Krissy

Well I have become a pro at this. We moved to California about 3 years ago. All of our family and friends are in utah and back east. Here is a few suggestions
* Have them talk to them a couple times a month by phone
* Show them pics of Grandpa
* Have them draw pics for Grandpa
* Have Grandpa send cards to her

It's tough, I know. But even these simple little things can help. Also try to work it out that even if you meet him in the middle somewhere. It would be like miny vacations for your girl.
I hope everything goes well.
Jen

Hi A.. I have a huge family and most of my family lives in Washington while I'm in California. My son who's 3 actually has a pretty close connection with my mom. He writes her letter/cards, draws pictures to send, we send pictures thru the mail. We don't have a web cam but I think those are awesome. My friend just got one so she can see her granchildren who are far. It works great. We call a lot. We have unlimited long distance so that helps. We look at pictures often and we throw her into daily conversation because I'm close with her. We send lots of emails and pictures thru email. Sometimes it doesn't feel like she's so far away. Plus you can always go visit him too. As she gets older, that could be a summer vacation spot for her. As long as you make him a big part of your life, he will be a big part of her life too.