True Story: How My Daughter Came Home—and Hid Ducks Everywhere To every grandparent who wondered if healing with their adult child is possible. So far this week, I have found a duck in my bathroom.One in my coffee cup.One on my air purifier.And another poking out of a plant like it belonged there. Apparently, my…
When I first shared my story with other grandparents raising their grandchildren, I expected criticism. However, as my story went broader, the comment that cut deepest was, “If you had raised your child right, you would not be raising your grandchild.” It stung because it reduced a complex reality to a simplistic blame game, ignoring…
Raising grandchildren can be challenging, particularly because they have experienced trauma. As a survivor of abuse, foster parenting, adopting 2 children with trauma, raising those children, and now as a grandparent raising my grandchild, I have faced struggles that others could never comprehend. I have learned that understanding how trauma affects us is key to…