A slice of my life experience, especially as it relates to children: I am a mother of three grown daughters and a grandmother of eight. I have been both a married stay-at-home mom and a struggling single mother. I have been a babysitter, nanny, pre-school teacher, after school program teacher, high school teacher, community organizer of youth and involved with the lives of children and the elderly around the world; most recently with children and families from the U.S., Finland and Mexico.
Creative expression morphs into various forms throughout my day, my life. All forms while changing, come from the same material: Me! These expressions are writing, storytelling, blogging, photography, recycled art objects, cooking, creating fun, crafting for my three daughters and seven grandchildren, gardening, and more. Recycled creations get me the most excited!
Resiliency is my saving grace. I have bounced back from a lifetime of unfortunate events and change. I refuse to have my life determined by these events, but by the pearls I have also experienced. I determine my response to everything and make my life what it is. No one else is responsible but me, which gives me all of the power in the world to shape my experience!
Learning and Educating is a constant for me. I am always learning and hopefully learning from my mistakes. I will always be an educator as well.
Passion is a double-edged sword for me! It powers my engine yet it can also get me into trouble if I don’t let my thoughts idle for a while.
Advocating for those who don’t have a voice is the constant and strongest thread in my fabric; especially children, teens, and the elderly.
My former identities (and there are many) flavor who I am, yet none define me.
My favorite things in life are my daughters and grandchildren, and jumping into bed with enough time to dive into a real good book, especially historical and cultural fiction or memoirs. I am a traveler and love meeting interesting people, visiting with elders, playing with children, listening to what teenagers are saying and thinking, great vocals , dancing and music from any genre, playing games, especially Scrabble, being inspired by the innovators of every era in every field of study, and inspiring others, especially when I am speaking in public.
I am Blessed with an extremely wonderful and accepting family, especially my daughters, who know how passionate I am about the many life projects I have taken on. When I think of the hundreds+ children, teenagers, elders, and other people I have had the blessing of connecting with in my life, I feel like the luckiest person on earth!
Communicating & Social Networking: I have several other websites and blogs where I reach people from all corners of the planet regarding the many issues that touch my heart. http://GPDPT.com , http://TheNewPhysicsofChildhood.com , http://GrannyPantsSpeaks.wordpress.com , http://ChameleaProductions.com , Employer Incentives for Breastfeeding Mothers in the Workplace , http://femaleisnotadisease.tumblr.com are current blogs & web pages.
I am in a constant state of learning, exploring, creating, teaching, advocating, making mistakes, picking myself up and starting over again!
My motto: “Celebrate Every Day!”
Me and Hudson, grandchild no. 7
Granny Pants Speaks About Everything 
Visit my new site where I share stories about the children in my life @ http://GrannyPantsSpeaks.wordpress.com “Granny Pants Speaks About Children.”
I am a fan of messedupparenting tips and anyone who takes it serious is beyond help. As a parent, a grandparent and an educator, I believe we all need a little humor in our lives. messedupparentingtips happens to be written by my son. He is an awesome dad of three terrific kids. And, after all, it is called MESSEDUPPARENTINGTIPS!! It is not to be believed, it is to be laughed at.
I agree that your son’s blog is funny. However, at the same time, there are tidbits of stuff in his posts that allude to normal child rearing standards that are the very things that are really messing up our kids these days. Don’t get me wrong, his humility and honesty and humor are to be admired. But in my work as an educator as I am sure you can understand, our children are actually calling out for things to change because they aren’t really getting their needs met; as in many of the examples your son illustrates. So as not to get into details in this post, I would love to dialogue with you further via email or if you want details, I can give them. THank you for responding! I am sure you realize that thousands of people love your son’s blog and that will not change by anything I say, but this is my point exactly. I have contact with a lot of parents and I see how many parents actually take these things to heart and do not just take them as a joke. For those of us who know better, we just may be in the minority!
Maybe if you haven’t already you can read my post on The 10 Things You Need to Know But Probably Don’t Want to Hear. This speaks to several of my points.
Wow! You truly inspire and such a lovely woman.
Thank you Mia!
Dear Grannypants: I JUST read your article about sedentarianism that you posted back in 2009. Congrats on being WAY ahead of the curve. I work in the fitness / wellness / healthcare industry and only in the last year has there been a lot of discussion of our sedentary lifestyles being an addiction. Love your passion and your well reasoned arguments. So much of what you wrote has been echoed in my own conversations with my family and colleagues. And if you’re not already familiar with the Exercise is Medicine group (part of the American College of Sports Medicine), you might be very encouraged about the conversations they are having with the C level of our major hospitals.
Thank you again for this particular blog entry, as well as many others that I’ve been diving into.
Andy
(also a grandparent)