The Cool Grandpa Podcast

This episode is another one-on-one conversation with you and me. I open up the conversation with a quick trip report from my last trip to Virginia the week before Easter. I spent a lot of time with my grandson, who is almost four years old. I confess that spending multiple days with him wore me out physically and mentally. It has been a long time since I chased toddlers around a playground and mus...

This episode is another one-on-one conversation with you and me. I open up the conversation with a quick trip report from my last trip to Virginia the week before Easter. I spent a lot of time with my grandson, who is almost four years old. I confess that spending multiple days with him wore me out physically and mentally. It has been a long time since I chased toddlers around a playground and mus...

This episode is another one-on-one conversation with you and me. I open up the conversation with a quick trip report from my last trip to Virginia the week before Easter. I spent a lot of time with my grandson, who is almost four years old. I confess that spending multiple days with him wore me out physically and mentally. It has been a long time since I chased toddlers around a playground and mus...

This episode is another one-on-one conversation with you and me. I open up the conversation with a quick trip report from my last trip to Virginia the week before Easter. I spent a lot of time with my grandson, who is almost four years old. I confess that spending multiple days with him wore me out physically and mentally. It has been a long time since I chased toddlers around a playground and mus...

This week's guest is Donne Davis. Donne started the GaGa Sisterhood group to bring inspiration, support, and tools to grandmothers worldwide. Donne became a grandmother in 2003, and for over nineteen years, she has been on a mission to connect with other grandmas and explore the evolving role of being a grandmother. Donne and I start our conversation by discussing her experience in becoming a gran...

Our conversation this week is with Ed Gaffney. We talked with Ed a few episodes ago about RVing with grandchildren. (The link to that conversation is in the links below.) Ed shares how he and his wife Jeanne found out that they would be grandparents at a Billy Joel and Elton John concert. Ed shares his experience blending his family with Jeanne's to form a blended family. We learn through Ed's sto...

Dr. Rob Whitley, Ph. D., discusses older men's mental health issues. Rob Whitley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, and a Research Scientist at the Douglas Research Centre. He is currently a Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé Senior Research Scholar and an Honorary Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne.  Rob and I discuss the mental health chall...

Open roads, out-of-the-way adventures, and building relationships are just a few things that we talk about with Jeanne and Ed Gaffney. Through her article, "RVing with Grandchildren," I found Jeanne on the Go RVing website (See the link below for the article). I thought this idea and experience sounded like great fun for grandfathers and grandmothers. The Gaffneys share with us how they got into R...

Open roads, out-of-the-way adventures, and building relationships are just a few things that we talk about with Jeanne and Ed Gaffney. Through her article, "RVing with Grandchildren," I found Jeanne on the Go RVing website (See the link below for the article). I thought this idea and experience sounded like great fun for grandfathers and grandmothers. The Gaffneys share with us how they got into R...

This episode is a chance for you and me to catch up. It has been a month or so since we last spoke. In this conversation, I talk about the critical role of being a grandfather who is a cheerleader for their grandchild. I review the different ages of development and the various ways that grandfathers can be intentional about encouraging and cheering on grandchildren. Grandchildren at different ages...

Our conversation is with Anieke Lamers. Anieke is an Ex-VC (Venture Capitalist) turned social entrepreneur on a mission to make every child feel special and connected to roots & loved ones. In this conversation with Anneke, the co-founder of Peekabond, we discuss challenges that Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and anyone who is away from a young child in their family deal with every day. We talk abou...

Our conversation is with Anieke Lamers. Anieke is an Ex-VC (Venture Capitalist) turned social entrepreneur on a mission to make every child feel special and connected to roots & loved ones. In this conversation with Anneke, the co-founder of Peekabond, we discuss challenges that Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and anyone who is away from a young child in their family deal with every day. We talk abou...

Greg Vance joins us again to discuss job hunting, career management, and finding work that has purpose and meaning in our middle to later years. Greg is a successful and sought-after coach who has been where many of us are currently. He has been in a position that paid well but was uninspiring. After working with renowned (and former guest of the show) career coach, Dan Miller , Greg set out to he...

In this week's conversation, Rebecca Fraser-Thill joins us to talk about career choices for grandfathers and anyone in their middle years. Rebecca and I review some of the myths and old perceptions of changing jobs once you hit your late 40s and older. I bring up how the old model was finding a position or organization that you tolerated and hopefully enjoyed and then riding that job out to retire...

Armando Garcia is this week's guest. Armando and I discuss his relationship with his six young grandchildren. We talk about how Armando is using his life experience and his experience as a 48 Days and Zigler certified coach to help his grandchildren learn and interpret the world around them. Armando discusses how he has implemented a book club with his grandchildren where he incentivizes them to r...

Armondo Garcia is this week's guest. Armondo and I discuss his relationship with his six young grandchildren. We talk about how Armondo is using his life experience and his experience as a 48 Days and Zigler certified coach to help his grandchildren learn and interpret the world around them. Armondo discusses how he has implemented a book club with his grandchildren where he incentivizes them to r...

This week, we catch up one-on-one to discuss how we can build up love and affection with grandchildren who live away from us. The basis for this conversation comes from a guest blog that I wrote for Peekabond. Peekabond is a new company building an application to assist people with building and maintaining long-distance relationships with young ones. In this conversation, I discuss the need to hav...

This conversation is with Greg Vance. Greg shares all the changes he had going on when the first grandchildren came along. We discussed how Greg was leaving corporate life and was building his coaching and consulting business. Greg discusses the changes in habits and lifestyle that were happening in the few years leading to welcoming in their first grandchild. We discuss Greg's relationship with h...

This week's conversation is with Robin and Stephanie from the podcast 'Stories from Grandparents'. Robin and Stephanie discuss the concept for their podcast and how they have been learning and capturing interesting stories from everyday people. 'Stories from Grandparents' is unique in that Robin and Stephanie facilitate grandchildren interviewing their grandparents about different topics. We also...

This is a bonus episode. The episode is part two of my interview about Maj. General Rupertus, USMC. In this episode, Heather, Kim, and Amy join me to talk about their extraordinary grandfather. Amy and Don Brown 's book about Major General Rupertus, Old Breed General , is now out and available for purchase. Not only is it now available for purchase, BUT it is in its second printing BEFORE the firs...

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us well - Voltaire This is another one on one conversation with just me and you. We discuss the importance of helping grandchildren learn how to show appreciation in our discussion of how to show appreciation to their family, friends, and others. To me, Appreciation is a deeper form of giving thanks. I suggest that b...

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us well - Voltaire This is another one on one conversation with just me and you. We discuss the importance of helping grandchildren learn how to show appreciation in our discussion of how to show appreciation to their family, friends, and others. To me, Appreciation is a deeper form of giving thanks. I suggest that b...

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us well - Voltaire This is another one on one conversation with just me and you. We discuss the importance of helping grandchildren learn how to show appreciation in our discussion of how to show appreciation to their family, friends, and others. To me, Appreciation is a deeper form of giving thanks. I suggest that b...

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us well - Voltaire This is another one on one conversation with just me and you. We discuss the importance of helping grandchildren learn how to show appreciation in our discussion of how to show appreciation to their family, friends, and others. To me, Appreciation is a deeper form of giving thanks. I suggest that b...

Rebecca Fraser-Thill joins us to talk about grandfathers, multi-generational relationships, and the importance of traditions within the family. We are introduced to Rebecca's grandfather, Raymond Green, who lived about a half-hour from Rebecca. Although Rebecca talks about having a stronger bond with her grandmother, Raymond played an essential role in her life. They both enjoyed feeding the birds...