GRANDPARENT EDUCATION: IMPROVING COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Grandparents generally lack the group process skills that facilitate productive dialogue with peers and mutually respectful conversations in families. The absence of these skills among older adults has been confirmed by observations of discussions in grandparent education courses. We formulated guidelines to improve the benefit of small‐group interaction in our grandparent education classes. Participants rely on these guidelines to monitor their own conduct and the behavior of peers. Anecdotal evidence indicates that grandparents can help one another acquire and practice communication skills they were not taught earlier in life but need at this stage to assume their important role in the changing family.