The Modern Grandparent

Nine hundred billion dollars.

That's the figure AARP's 2026 "Powering Families" study put on what it calls the grandparent economy — the combined value of the money grandparents hand over directly ($172 billion a year) and the unpaid care they provide (worth another $731 billion), averaging out to $2,654 per grandparent per year — more than the average monthly Social Security check.

Ninety percent of grandparents provide some financial support. Seven in ten provide hands-on care. And 2.1 million of them are, right now, the person primarily responsible for a grandchild's day-to-day needs. Grandparenting today looks nothing like it did a generation ago, and almost nobody hands new grandparents a manual for it.

This book is that manual — genuinely comprehensive, because the range of real grandparent situations is genuinely wide: the brand-new grandparent figuring out the etiquette of a first hospital visit, the long-distance grandparent maintaining a real relationship across states or time zones, the step-grandparent building a bond that doesn't compete with anyone, the grandparent thrust into raising a grandchild full-time after a family crisis, the widowed grandparent showing up alone for the first time, and the grandparent quietly managing a chronic illness while still wanting to be fully present.

The Modern Grandparent walks through all of it in six parts: becoming a grandparent today, staying connected across distance and divorce and blended families, the legal and financial realities of raising a grandchild when parents can't, money and legacy — from 529 plans and the recent FAFSA rule change to estate planning done right — the modern layer of screens, boundaries, and generational differences in parenting philosophy, and the emotional terrain of grief, loss, and grandparenting through hard seasons.

Inside, you'll learn how to: Build your own relationship with a grandchild without competing with other grandparents Stay genuinely close to a grandchild who lives hun