Rose O'Brien - grandmother, teacher, columnist and researcher - explores the delights of grandparenting in the new millennium, taking the reader on a wander through this fascinating stage of family life: "laughter and fun, humbling experiences and moving moments, ironic musings, old skills remembered and new skills learned." Every aspect of family life touches grandparents, and Rose, Early Childhood teacher and for the last five years a grandparenting columnist for Sydney's, Melbourne's and Brisbane's Child magazines, looks at them all, from the first sight of a new grandchild, still crumpled like a butterfly emerged from the chrysalis, to the difficulties of folding a modern pram; from dashing across the country or the world to help out in times of emergency, to the rigours of school Grandparents' Days; and to hearing an interested young grandson say, "Grandma, you've got whiskers!" Rose's experience and memories, her research and the stories told to her by many grandparents across Australia and overseas, reveal the moving, chaotic, occasionally troubled, frequently hilarious nature of modern-day grandparenting. As Rose says, "Life gets busy, but most of the time we grandparents meet its challenges with enthusiasm."