Grand-Loving Those GrandKids by Marilou Genereaux Booth You have 10 grandchildren scattered over many miles. How do you get to know each of them for the special person they are? How do they get to know you? Grandparenting from a distance can be expensive, frustrating and time-consuming if you think only in terms of gifts, sizes and tastes. With a little creativity, however, the challenge of grandparenting can be both rewarding and grand fun for you and the grandkids. Children of any age love to receive gifts, but the gifts that touch the heart are often the least expensive. Like most grandparents, I had amassed a huge clutter of photos I dreamt of someday organizing into albums for my kids. As I was thinking of what I would do for five of my grandkids whose birthdays fell in July, I realized there was a way I could give them a gift that would keep on giving­and be relatively inexpensive. I dropped by Wal-Mart and purchased a photo album for each of my grandkids. Then I sorted through my pictures and began putting together a fun album. I included pictures of that grandchild with Grandfather and me, and I also included old childhood photos of their parents. Why did I do that? Because kids love to see what Mom and Dad looked like back in their grade school and high school years. I typed out "story" captions for the photos, and I gussied up the pages with colorful stickies. These individual photo albums can kickstart good communication between you and grandchildren you seldom get to see. Perhaps you¹ve experienced those awkward phone calls in which you and your grandchildren don¹t know what to talk about. Well, these photo albums will spark questions, especially if you occasionally send new pages to be added to the album. (That¹s why you may want to purchase albums in which you can add extra pages to it.) For instance, two of my grandchildren love playing Little League baseball. I¹ll be sending them team pictures of their parents back in their Little League days. When we talk on the telephone, I can ask more than "Did you win? and "Did you get a hit?" We can talk about the positions they play compared to ones their parents played, and how you remember the time when their father was at bat with the bases loaded and two outs. . . . You can also ask your grandchildren to send you photos of themselves. If their parents aren¹t shutterbugs, then send your grandchildren a disposable camera and ask them to take photos around the house. Tell them you¹ll even pay for the film processing. Once you have the photos in hand, you can put them in an album, which can be left out on their next visit. Names and events take on flesh and blood with pictures, and by building a close relationship through photos and story captions, you can become a real person in your grandchildren¹s lives. **************One site has it all. Your email accounts, your social networks, and the things you love. Try the new AOL.com today!(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212962939x1200825291/aol?redir=http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp %26icid=aolcom40vanity%26ncid=emlcntaolcom00000001)