Long-distance grandparenting is emotionally complex. Anyone who has done it knows that truth in their bones.
You love those grandchildren with everything you have. But the miles between you mean you have to work harder to nurture the relationship. That is simply the reality — and it is worth facing honestly.
Donne Davis knows this world well. She became a grandmother for the first time on April 26, 2003, and went on to spend two decades writing and speaking about the joys and challenges of modern grandparenting.
Through her GaGa Sisterhood — a national membership organization for grandmas that ran from December 7, 2003 to December 7, 2023 — she heard from countless grandmothers navigating distance, difference, and the everyday longing to simply be there.
Her message is consistent: staying connected across miles takes intention. It does not happen on its own.
Over twenty years of blog posts, Davis has gathered advice on how to begin and deepen the grandparent-grandchild relationship, including long-distance strategies, ways to stay connected, and guidance on self-care for grandmas who give so much of themselves to the role.
Choosing your grandma name — whether you go by Nana, Noni, Kiki, or something all your own — may feel like a small thing. Davis notes it is often one of the first big decisions you will make in this new chapter.
What Davis has seen again and again is that the grandmas who thrive across the miles are the ones who keep showing up — through regular calls, letters, shared books, and small surprises in the mail. Consistency is the thread that holds the bond together.
The role can bring the highest highs and, sometimes, the lowest lows. That is true whether you live down the street or across the country. But the grandmothers who lean into it — who keep growing and learning right alongside their grandchildren — find something unexpectedly rewarding waiting for them.
It is never too late to deepen that connection. And you do not have to figure it out alone.