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So, instead of watching these kids be born, we’re now step-grandparents to a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old that we haven’t ever known before. So, all of the sudden, life just got really complicated fast.īob: Then, I’m thinking about the other situation which is where our son or our daughter marries somebody who has been previously married and brings grandkids in, and we didn’t just become new in-laws-we became new step-grandparents-and it happened in an instant. Ron: What that means is that, at Christmastime, when you want time with your grandkids, there’s probably four or five or six other sets of grandparents who, also want time with the grandkids. So, if our son and daughter-in-law get a divorce, and now she is the custodial parent, where do we fit into that right?īob: If there’s an estrangement between our son and this daughter-in-law, we may be cut out of the picture. a common experience-and of course, it touches all three of the generations.īob: Not just all three generations, but I’m thinking about all of the different permutations of what makes a stepfamily-and then how that expands to the grandparenting.

The other thing that I found was that the prediction that demographers have is that by year 2030 in the U.S.-there will be one step-grandchild for every 1.7 biological grandchildren-less than 2 to 1 ratio. have a step-grandparent-40-percent! By the way, that’s stat is 20 years old-it’s old. I do this every single day, but I was a little shocked to discover that 40-percent of families in the U.S. Bob, in preparation for that Legacy Conference, I did some homework. You’re hearing a lot about this subject as you speak around the country. Ron, welcome back to FamilyLife Today.īob: You got invited to come and speak at this conference about step-grandparenting which, Dennis, I don’t know if I ever even stopped to think about that subject-but that’s an issue that a lot of families that all of the sudden find themselves in with very little preparation and very little coaching.ĭennis: I would say most grandparents feel overlooked when it comes to blending a family together and I can’t imagine what it would be like-to feel like-in some regards, you may be an outsider-ĭennis: -to get back in with grandkids that-at one point-you were their heros. One of the speakers at the conference was Ron Deal who joins us in studio today and is the leader of FamilyLife Blended ®. We helped promote this event-a national conference of grandparenting.īob: That’s right. We had some friends who put this together. There was a conference back last fall for grandparents. Stay with us.Īnd welcome to FamilyLife Today.

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on how to make it work more effectively. We have some thoughts today from Ron Deal. Our host is Dennis Rainey, I’m Bob Lepine.

That can be a disappointment to their adult child.īob: This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, July 30 th. Ron: Sometimes, when somebody else made a choice-and all of the sudden, you’ve got not just one, but maybe you’ve got five step-grandchildren-what if you had a bunch-what if you already thrown yourself relationship with your biological grandchildren, now you’ve got five more? It’s like-“How do I fit all of this in? How do we do the finances?” I’m just saying-I’ve seen and been involved in situations where the step-grandparents just aren’t terribly excited about this. Bob: When two families merge-when they blend-and now there are stepchildren and stepsiblings-one of the forgotten parts of this equation often, is the new step-grandparents.

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