Unconditional Love: A Guide to Navigating the Joys and Challenges of Being a Grandparent Today

Isay (Secrets and Lies), a former book editor, shares what it is to be a grandparent and how to keep family conflicts to a minimum and joy at the maximum in this lovely treatment of a widely shared experience. She identifies three age groups for grandparents—young ones still at work and busy, retired ones with enough energy to care for active youngsters, and elder matriarchs and patriarchs—and follows the life cycle of the contemporary three-generation family, with sage advice and family stories throughout. The book is written to help the two generations of adults in a three-generation family deal with the conflicts, problems, and politics of family life, without striving for perfection. Part one teaches “grandparent prep” and adapting to change. Part two considers “the intangibles,” such as nurturing a child’s “moral imagination” and how grandparenting can function as a second chance, as with the illustrative story of a tough paternal taskmaster who metamorphosed into an indulgent “Paw-Paw” with his daughters’ kids. Parts three and four respectively cover difficult issues, such as dealing with distance and remaining involved despite advancing age. More thoughtful and inspiring than Lesley Stahl’s 2016 Becoming Grandma, this volume would make an ideal present from parents-to-be to their own folks. [em]Agent: Liz Darhansoff, Darhansoff & Verrill. (Jan.) [/em]