Great and Grand-Why Grandparents are Gold!

It takes a community to raise a Jewish child, and that community includes grandparents. Here in the Greater Palm Beaches, we are blessed with many Jewish grandparents. And whether the grandparents in your life live locally or far way, they bring a wealth of experience, knowledge, and love that cannot be duplicated or replicated. Jewish grandparents represent the greatest untapped resource for influencing the lives and values of their grandchildren. This, coupled with the data we have about the importance of reading to young children, creates the perfect opportunity for them to share your Jewish heritage and history with them.


Nearly half the grandchildren of Jewish grandparents today are not being raised Jewishly, signaling a major shift in the spiritual make-up of American Jewish families. Books, specifically Jewish books, are a wonderful way to start important conversations with youngsters, bringing them even closer together.

There are many ways to weave storytelling and book reading into the shared time between child and grandparent. Here are some suggestions: 

• Take your grandchildren (whether they are visiting or live locally) to a FREE Jewish Story time at our local Jewish Community Center (www.jcconline.com).
• Read Jewish books to them: you can have FREE high-quality, age appropriate books sent them locally (or in over 130 communities in the U.S.) through The PJ Library® program, a national program created by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and implemented locally by The Friedman Commission for Jewish Education, that mails high-quality Jewish books to local children ages 6 months-6 years old. The “PJ” is for pajamas as this program was developed with bedtime reading in mind. Register at http://www.pjlibrary.org/
• Podcasting — an Internet technology that allows users to record and distribute audio — has created a communication whirlwind for grandparents to broadcast their voices to grandkids, wherever they reside. Learn more: http://www.grandparents.com/gp/content/expert-advice/long-distance-grandparenting/article/podcastlongdistancebedtimestory.html#ixzz1ZobdoDvl
• Use a list of PJ Library books to pick the perfect book to buy at a bookstore or borrow at your local public library or synagogue library to share with your grandchildren http://www.pjlibrary.org/books-and-music.aspx

Reading together can be a special time for grandparents and grandchildren to spend together. Developmentally, it is important for young children need to hear stories read to them in different voices and in varied settings. As we get closer to National Jewish Book Month (November), grandparents should take some time whether in person, over the phone, via Skype or Podcast, to share a book!

 

For information about The PJ Library in the Greater Palm Beaches or The Grandparents Circle (free 5 session course for grandparnets with a grandchild being raised in an interfaith home), contact Amy Bergman, Director of Jewish Family Life at 561-209-2608, a.bergman@cjepb.org