So here we all are, in the middle of a global pandemic! Life as we know it is on standby. We are home isolated from our jobs, our friends and most importantly our family, which for many of us boomers now include grandchildren, our most precious gems!

I’m a wife, a mother, a pediatric registered nurse, but my greatest role so far has to be being a grandmother of five. For all you grandmothers out there, I have little doubt it is yours as well. The biggest challenge right now for many of us is how do we stay connected to, and continue to enrich and enhance our relationships with our grandkids while unable to be present physically in their lives?

What a wonderful time we live in now where the electronic world is literally a click away and readily available at our fingertips! This will be our saving grace, what keeps our relationships fluid and keep us all connected and with some creativity, really fun!

Face Timing has been a God send! What I’ve found these last several weeks is that FaceTime isn’t just for chatting face to face but can also be a great medium for games and activities. It also offers much needed help to parents who may just need a little break for themselves from their little ones while we babysit virtually!

Parents can hand the tablet to the kids and us grandparents can use our creativity to offer some fun and stimulating entertainment for them. Let’s face it, when we were little we didn’t have nearly the amount of toys, gadgets and sports equipment that ours grands do today but what we did have was our imagination and that’s what kept us entertained for hours. Think back to those simpler times and you'll find tons of ideas to entertain your grandchildren of all ages.

Charades online is easy and actually quite entertaining and gets everybody up and moving, another important thing to consider since there's nothing better for a strong immune system then exercise. Plus, there's nothing funnier for your grandkids to watch than seeing grandma acting out a scene from Frozen 2!

Another great activity is having a scavenger hunt, call out just about anything to your grandchild to find and watch them laugh and scramble about the house looking for “something that is stretchy” or their “favorite soft thing”. The list is endless and offers some pretty interesting finds!

Consider taking an online class together for a fun and educational experience. You and your grandchildren can select an activity together, such as cute things to draw, a cooking class, a dance class, or guitar lessons. Learn together from the comfort of your own homes.

Story telling is a more quiet but fun activity; the grandparent can start the story and say to the child “ok and then what happened” and watch their imaginations soar! Switch back and forth and the story can have some pretty interesting twists and plots {remember to record these storytelling times, they will be priceless years from now).

The list of playtime activities goes on and on. With just a little bit of thought and creativity, we can keep the connection with our grandchildren intact and strong.

This pandemic and the physical isolation from our grandchildren will eventually come to an end and before we know it, we will once again have our precious gems running into ours arms and I know like every grandparent out there, we'll hold on just a little tighter and a little bit longer.