Grandparents

On April 20 my husband and I attended the Spring Music Festival of the Kindergarten at Ilchester Elementary School. Our grandson participated in this, and he is the second of our grandchildren to go through Ilchester. After the program, we were able to observe several activities in his classroom and other parts of the school. We both came away from this with so much gratitude and pride. This school building is beautiful with permanent and temporary art displays. It is well-equipped, clean, and inviting, but that is not the best part of this school community.

The losing became so persistent that Martha Macgill pulled herself from the rotation of Episcopal clergy who regularly attended ball games at Camden Yards. She remembers one defeat in particular; it was Mother's Day 2007 and Jeremy Guthrie pitched eight sparkling innings only for the Orioles bullpen to squander a five-run cushion in the ninth against the Boston Red Sox. Her son Jack Kelleher fell to the floor in despair. "It just got so depressing," says Macgill, the rector at Memorial Episcopal Church in Bolton Hill.

Ella Johnson thought she was done raising kids. Then one night her daughter, asleep in bed with her 1-year-old son, died of a heart condition, and Johnson suddenly found herself mothering a grieving grandchild who clung to the picture of his dead mother. The mother of three grown children, Johnson had plenty of experience with patching skinned knees and soothing teenage mood swings, but taking on the family's youngest generation brought a new set of worries about how to make ends meet and how to provide the right environment for her grandson, DaQuan'Ta Harper, who is now 12. So she eagerly signed on to a National Institutes of Health research study started this year that provides grandparents around the country with practical advice and support for raising grandchildren.

Tara and Steve Sams of Bel Air announce the birth of their daughter, Whitney Ann Sams, on Jan. 27 at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. Grandparents are Doss and Marilyn Sams of Street and John and Linda Downing of West Chester, Pa.

When Sol Rom was a little boy growing up in Mexico, he had a hard time staying in school.His school was not like an ordinary school. It was a big old church in Juarez, Mexico. It had large windows with small openings.He remembered the singing birds and the buzzing bees and how they beckoned to him to come out and play."I remember when I went to first grade, there were so many children," recalled the 64-year-old Baltimore County resident. "They would sit on the windowsills of the big windows in the old church.

My parents are coming for Thanksgiving and I'm already nervous. Our 9-year-old has ADHD. He is very active and impulsive, but he does well at school with medication. My parents seem to think his behavior at home is a result of poor disciplining on our part and are very harsh with him. He dreads their visits. Any suggestions?Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder have a medical condition that makes it difficult for them to pay attention and to control their behavior. They can be quite a challenge for their families, and it helps to remember that their overactive behavior and impulsiveness are not their fault.

Let's face it, our country isn't filled with people who want to keep other people's children. In most instances, these "care-givers" don't make enough money, don't get promotions, tenure or retirement, do they?In the United States, family values have slipped, children sometimes seem a burden to be reckoned with, and it didn't take Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood to tell us that. Until immigration laws change, things will be difficult for the baby boomers and their children. I'd say there is a day-care gap that is getting wider.

City social services workers say they may have found the grandparents of "Baby Heather," the 1-year-old girl who was abandoned by her mother in South Baltimore in September.After local media publicized the child's plight last week, a couple claiming to be the child's grandparents called social services.The grandparents, whose names have not been released, indicated they have not seen Baby Heather's parents for some time, said Sue Fitzsimmons, spokeswoman for the Baltimore Department of Social Services.

WASHINGTON -- Grandparents across America who are raising 3.2 million of their grandchildren face obstacles that are "changing their dreams as golden years turn into nightmares," a Senate panel was told Wednesday. The epidemic use of crack cocaine and the explosion of out-of-wedlock births has resulted in a 40 percent increase over the past decade in the number of grandparents raising or helping raise their children's children, Rep. Tom Downey, D-N.Y., told the Special Committee on Aging.

Q: My children are 5 and 20 months, and I'm concerned about leaving them with the grandparents for a week while we go on vacation. How traumatic is that going to be?-- Criena Sekhon, Victoria,British ColumbiaA: The experience should be wonderful for a healthy, happy 5-year-old, parents and experts say. Predicting a 20-month-old's reaction is a bit more tricky.The questions to ask yourself are these:Does your toddler lean toward the mature or immature side of the developmental spectrum? How well does the younger child know these grandparents?

Joseph Scott Vanarsdale, 7 pounds 7 ounces, was born to Missy and Jeremy Vanarsdale of Bel Air on Jan. 11 at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. Siblings are Katie and Jimmy Vanarsdale. Grandparents are Cathi and Jim Welk of Whiteford and Diane and Bill Vanarsdale of Bel Air.

Michael and Nicole Lawall, of Laurel, announce the birth of their daughter, Savannah Marie Lawall, on Sept. 18, 2012, at 8:32 a.m. She weighed 9 pounds and was 21 1/2 inches long. Big brother Landon welcomed her with open arms. Maternal grandparents are Karen and Chris Walker, of Laurel. Paternal grandparents are Sue Mullinix, of Laurel, Chad Mullinix, of New Windsor and John Lawall Sr., of Elkridge.

A Pikesville man charged in his grandparents' death last month has been extradited and is being held in the Baltimore County Detention Center, police said. Matthew Charles Long, 31, was transported from Oklahoma Wednesday and is now being held without bail. He faces two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of his grandparents, Vaughn and Marjorie Pepper, on Sept. 10. Long was found unresponsive in a motel room on Sept. 11, near Route 40 in Weatherford, Okla., after he did not check out of the room, authorities there said.

Sahar Raza and Syed Moeed Hussain, of Laurel, announce the birth of their daughter, Syeda Mahrosh Hussain, on Sept. 17, 2012. The baby weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and joins her sister, Syeda Parizeh Hussain. Maternal grandparents are Tallat and Naeem Raza, of Laurel, and paternal grandparents are Fizza and Tahir Hussain, of Dubai, U.A.E.

A tweet this morning from @WoodenHorse Pub caught my eye: "Reader's Digest Association reportedly is almost out of cash & trying not to default. Downgraded by S & P this month. " To anyone growing up on the 1950s and 1960s, seeing that tweet is like reading that the Empire State Building is being demolished for scrap metal and landfill. The Digest was the voice and badge of God-fearing middle-class America, found in homes as frequently as the Bible. It was anti-Communist and anti-smoking.

The live-in grandson of a slain elderly couple from Pikesville has been named a suspect after Baltimore County detectives located the 31-year-old in Oklahoma. Police said Matthew Long lived with his grandparents, Vaughn and Marjorie Pepper, who were found dead Monday in their Sudbrook Park home. Authorities in Oklahoma alerted Baltimore County homicide detectives when Long was found in need of medical treatment. Baltimore County police had issued a missing-person alert on Long, which prompted Oklahoma authorities to contact Baltimore County.

Baltimore prosecutors said today they will seek two sentences of life without parole for a man charged with beating his elderly grandparents to death in August in Guilford.The announcement was made at a hearing in which Michael Edward Reiriz was arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Drs. Walter and Mary Loch.Mr. Reiriz, with dark hair hanging well below the shoulders of his short-sleeved shirt, pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. Baltimore Circuit Judge Mabel E. Hubbard then set his trial for Feb. 1 before Judge Clifton J. Gordy.

My 2-year-old granddaughter cries when she sees me or my husband or anyone new. I have tried ignoring her when I go to her home, but she screams so loud I have to leave. How I long to hold her and love her. Can anyone help?To a 2-year-old child -- who may not see Grandma all that often -- Grandma is nothing more than a stranger.If you keep that in mind, it's easier to understand that Grandma is only going to get what she wants if her granddaughter gets what she needs -- the reassurance that Grandma's presence doesn't mean the disappearance of Mom and Dad."

It's Grandparents Day, dear readers, It's this Sunday, Sept. 9. Congratulations to all my readers who happen to be grandparents! Remember yours. Sept. 11, Tuesday, is Patriot Day and the National Day of Remembrance. Celebrate First Fridays in downtown Havre de Grace today (Friday), 5 to 9 p.m. sponsored by Havre de Grace Main Street. On Saturday morning, rise and shine early for the best produce of summer at the Havre de Grace Farmers Market, 450 Pennington Ave., 9 a.m. to noon.

Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster will host the program "Challenges of Grandparenting in the 21st Century: Looking at Addiction Through the Eyes of Grandparents" on Friday, Sept. 14, from 1 to 3 p.m., as part of the center's recognition of National Grandparents Month. The workshop will feature presentations from Chuck Bosley, addictions coordinator at Carroll Hospital Center, and Dr. Janet Buchanan, vice president of philanthropy at Carroll Lutheran Village, who will discuss the signs and symptoms of addiction in youth and the use of technology in promoting substance abuse.