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Entry bubble When Grandma's in Charge

By: Nancy | September 04, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

This Sunday is the 30th annual National Grandparents Day. I kind of figured it was a holiday invented by the greeting card companies and florists. But to my shame, it's real. It was started by a West Virginia lady named Marian McQuade, who wanted to draw the younger and older generations closer together.

As I was looking into what government resources there were online for grandparents, I was shocked by a set of statistics from the US Census Bureau: 2.4 million grandparents are their grandchildren's main caregivers and providers. And a majority of those grandparents are under the age of 55. If you're involved in raising or caring for your grandkids or other young relatives in your home, the government has lots of information to help.

grandma

You know from bringing up your own children: kids are expensive! If you're financially responsible for your grandkids, check out these tips for making the most of the tax credits you're entitled to if your grandchildren are your dependents. Find out how to pay for their health care and how to be sure they're properly immunized.

If you have young grandkids in your home, childproofing's a must, as is making sure, when you go out, that car seats are the right size and are installed correctly.

USA.gov's Grandparents Raising Grandchildren section is full of even more links from around the government and other sources you can trust, like AARP, for help on everything from finding childcare options to making sure the toys you give your grandkids are safe to helping them as they adjust to moving in with you or your moving in with them.

Got a minute to get sentimental? I'd love to hear some stories about your grandparents or your grandkids. Brag on them a little—what makes your "grands" so grand to you?

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Entry bubble Helping Find Missing Kids

By: Nancy | October 04, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

It seems as if a week doesn’t go by without a new high-profile missing child case in the U.S. or abroad making TV headlines.teddy bear sillhouette I study the photos and home movie clips that they show. And I always hope somehow as I’m out shopping or commuting, that I’ll recognize a face from the news reports or from the back of a milk carton or an ad in my mailbox and will be able to help reunite a family.

More than 2,000 kids are reported missing every day after being abducted by a parent or stranger or after running away from home. The information on USA.gov’s Missing Children page can help you and your child learn how to lower the chances of abduction and can help you learn what you need to do right away if your child is missing.

The page features steps to take within the first 48 hours after your child has disappeared, giving you the information you need to become an effective partner with law enforcement, volunteer searchers and the media in finding your child. There’s also a link to the resources of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. For more than 20 years, the center has been a clearinghouse for information about missing child cases, a training provider for law enforcement and social service professionals, and a source of helpful tips to share with your kids about being safe on their trip to and from school, in the neighborhood, and at crowded public places like malls and amusement parks. The page also links to the FBI’s photo database of children abducted by their parents. And there are links to sites about Amber Alerts and Code Adam—two ways that law enforcement and local governments, businesses and the public can work together quickly to share information when a child is reported missing

It’s easy to get discouraged when so many missing child cases remain unsolved or have sad outcomes. But there are so many success stories of children being returned safely to their families because law enforcement and people like you and me paid attention to those news stories and to the people and things they saw around them and reported sightings that brought about happy reunions.

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