Alternative Parenting GoGo(grandma) is travelling – Part 1

Alternative parenting via skype and google talk is the route to go. For the next few weeks I have a guest blogger. Thanks Gabrielle, my daughter, who reflects on grandma’s absence from at home as I travel in Africa.

Week one – The thing about having GoGo  [grandma]away from Lolo is you can’t tell how much it really affects her yet. She just adapts and continues like “oh new routine. Let’s do it”.

Then all of a sudden she starts to cry in the car seat on the way home from school and twists up her face and lets out the most mournful wail “I miss my gogo, I miss my gogo” and my heart breaks and we run up the largest phone bill just to have voice contact in between the times we have “face time”.

I wonder what we would have done without the internet and skype and google talk?!? Oh I suppose there were pictures….. but these are in no way as effective.

Alternative parenting. I never thought about that concept before but it works. I am not sure who is the alternate though (smile, smile). Grandma’s are so important to the child at this age of 3,4,5 years of age. I can remember when I had my grandmother. She used to cook so well and I would eat what  I never ate at home.

Alternative parenting means we have to find ways to parent beyond the ususal. And this is where skype and google talk jump right in. Skype has the picture from the video so she will see who is that person who she remembers as GoGo. Memories do change the fact so the picture is great. Then on google talk when I am on the road, she can have a quick conversation. It doesn’t matter the age nowadays. They all seem to know how to use the cell phone of whatever mobile app.

I guess I miss her too that’s why I am bloggin…..