Grandparents are so important in the lives of their grandchildren. My parents were both wonderful grandparents and were a fantastic influence in the lives of my two children. My Mom was there when my son was born and was so helpful with my son who was born a month early. My Mom took to the role of grandmother with so much love. My father lived to see his grandchildren!

They both took on different roles as grandparents. My mother was the nurturing one who cuddle the children when they cried, read them books, rocked them to sleep, changed diapers and fed the children.

My father took on the role of entertainer and what an entertainer he was. He didn't care that his living room floor was covered with colored blocks, Lego and toy cars! He was down on the floor playing too! From the time the children could sit up they all loved playing with grandpa or "pa" for short as that what my son decided to call his beloved grandpa. Everyone else became invisible to the grandchildren when my father entered a room. He was king of the kids.

He would build up towers of blocks for my son to knock down. Then fall about being silly. My son's little body would shake with laughter. My father would play all sort of games with the children, he would draw with them, read books, play music for them, he made wooden toys for them, let them talk into a microphone and record their voice. He love taking video of his grandchildren so thankfully I have loads of video of my children when they were young.

It is important to include grandparents in the lives of your children. We live in Australia and my mother in law lives in England. We call her on the phone every second week and always get the children to talk to her.

Reminding the children of things they have done in the previous two weeks before they get on the phone is always helpful. That way the children have something important to say to their grandma. It can be simply what they did at school or at a sporting event. It is all important news to a grandparent.

Sending letters, photos, and family videos are very important. My mother in law loves receiving a video of the children and our family activities. She can show the rest of the family and feels she is a part of their lives even when she lives half way around the world. She watches the videos over and over.

I send photos regularly and copy photos from my computer onto a DVD every 6 month so she get about 200 photos on one DVD. It is easy for her to take it with her to other family members and friends. They can all sit down together and watch the photos on the TV through their DVD player.

Always get children to say or write a thank-you for any presents they receive. Long distance grandparents miss their grandchildren and you need to make the effort to include them as much as possible.

My childen have lost two grandparents in the space of nine month. My father passed away in October, 2007 and my mother in July, 2008. It was very hard on my children.

Remember that children show grief in different ways to adults. You just have to watch them carefully and just give them enough information so they can cope when their grandparent is dying. You need to prepare them and reassure them. My children wanted to know would it hurt when my father died. I reassured them he would just go to sleep and them his heart would stop. He wouldn't be in pain.

Sometime when a loved one dies children think that other loved ones may die and they can become frightened of losing their parents too.

Chldren react differently at different ages.

Have a look at the books below on helping children with grief.