PenPenWrites

parenting blog, memoir notes, family punchlines & more

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© Penelope Lemov and Parenting Grown Children, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.

recent posts

© Penelope Lemov and Parenting Grown Children, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.

Category: Uncategorized

  • Sharing Family History: What one generation owes another.

    Author Jeff Katz (right) and moderator Marc Fisher at Wonderland Books in Bethesda, Md. Talk about intergenerational communication, of one generation catching up with the stories of another. Many of us, as we reach our more senior years, are sorry we didn’t ask our parents in-depth questions about their past. And some of us wish…

  • Gifting and Getting: A wish list for gifts from grandkids

    The gift-giving mania of the Holidays is finally over for now. We no longer have to sidestep the occasional requests for what sort of present we’d like from our kids or grandkids. Except that it really isn’t over: Birthdays, Mother’s or Father’s Days and various anniversaries are still coming up. If a grandkid or grown…

  • Blast from the Past: Our youthful slang is no longer passé.

    Whenever I use a term from my youth–like “wasn’t that a hoot” to mean, “wasn’t that funny”–I feel I have to apologize to my grandkids for being out of date, for using a phrase that’s totally dated. But now I find out that the slang we bandied about when we were in high school and…

  • Money Matters: Data on how the Bank of Mom and Dad is doing?

    Retirement looms for many of us as a signifier of our status as a mature person with wisdom to share and time to spare. Or it’s a tantalizing adventure we look forward to. But if we give up our day jobs and our kids need financial help–to, say, buy a house, pay for groceries or…

  • After the Minneapolis Killings: Nora Ephron on parenting grown children

    There are challenges to being a parent of adult children: They may not look or behave as we might want them to; our relationships can get testy; they may keep us out of the loop of their daily life and decisions. And yet there’s one constant we have: We love our children and want to…

  • Refilled Nests: “It’s the choiceful economy, stupid,” thus explaineth Stay-at-Home sons.

    I had coffee yesterday with one of the caregivers who had taken care of my husband when he was ill. Is this what corporate executives mean when they increasingly refer to consumers as being “choiceful?” Or, as a NYT story defined what the executives meant by their term: “Consumers are either spending less at retailers…

  • Post-Holiday Downer: We don’t get thanked for the gifts we give.

    If there’s one complaint that rears its head every post-holiday season it’s this: “Where’s my Thank You?” We’ve been generous to our grandkids–or grown kids–but there’s not a peep out of them about their appreciation for a carefully chosen cable-knit sweater or the always-useful cash (by check or Zelle or some other modern monetary form).…

  • Leaving a Legacy: Who’s done their homework?

    New Years Resolutions–Intentions or Wish List–are still staring at us from our champagne glasses or to-do lists. Experts who follow resolution trends–yes, there are people who do that–report that the top intentional topics are eating less (or better), exercizing more (or more effectively) and drinking less (or not at all). On a December Freakonomics podcast,…

  • Good Tidings to All

    With all the talk of toxic family gatherings and the politcal frights of the past year and for the coming one, let’s step out to revel in All will be well. Someday. Hopefully within our lifetime. Here is holiday comfort from the meditative Tara Brach: “May your moments over these days be filled with presence,…

  • Holiday Gatherings: What to do (and not do) when your adult child brings someone special home?

    All families have their holiday traditions. For those of us who plan a full family get-together over an extravagant holiday feast, there may be a surprise in store when our grown kids head home. They may bring a new love interest, someone who may be a possible new partner in their life. Or they may…