Life as a grandparent is going great when your daughter and her husband drop the bombshell. Your son-in-law has just landed a job-of-a-lifetime, but it is in a community that is a two day's drive away. Your heart sinks as you realize that the grandchild that you've been seeing every weekend will be out of sight most of the year.

What can you do when your grandchildren move away? How can you keep in touch as you miss most of their growing years? Consider the following ideas, written especially for situations that involve grandchildren under 10. You can easily adapt some of these ideas to older grandchildren.

(1) Plan some special times together before they move.

Hopefully your children have been able to give you at least several weeks notice of the move. These last two or three weekends should be spent doing some special activities, ones that you know your grandchild enjoys. Perhaps they have a special place they like to visit, like a children's museum, or a special eatery. Make sure you capture the events with your camera and/or camcorder.

(2) Make a special photo album

All grandparents have photos of their grandchildren, especially ones that capture special times. Photos of trips you have taken together, of pets you've played with, of parties you've been at, of friends and family you've spent time with. Gather a group of these photos together, especially ones that show you and the grandchildren together, and make a special album. This becomes a little going away gift. Don't forget to include photos from the final weekends.

(3) Give them contact info

If you are a modern grandparent, you will have a phone number, a postal address, and an e-mail address. Maybe you even have Personal Cards with this information. (personal cards are a business card designed specifically for handing out to new friends and such - one inexpensive way to get these is at Vista Print) Depending on their ages, make sure your grandchildren know how to contact you via all three options. One way of ensuring that you receive hand written (or printed) material is to supply them with some pre-addressed and pre-stamped envelopes. That way, they just have to fill the envelope with some personal notes or new drawings and then pop it into a mail box. You, of course, can also write, phone, and e-mail them.

(4) Home Made Videos

A truly modern grandparent can also send out not only new photos, but even a home-made DVD. Just use your camcorder to record special events that your grandchildren cannot be at, and mail them a DVD version. Some newer camcorders take DVDs as their standard way of recording. Others will require you to transfer them via a computer. Just visit your local computer store for the additional hardware and software required. Some beginner style ones are very economical.

There, now you have four ideas of things to do when your grandchildren move away. These ones will help you think of others. Now all you have to do is start planning your first trip to your grandchildren's new home.