Coming Fall 2026
Grandparent by Design
The Modern Grandparent's Guide to Becoming Legendary
By Alison Richardson, MS, founder of The Gran Life
You become a grandparent by title in one second. Becoming the grandparent your grandchildren can't wait to see, that part is designed.
The promise
Developmental science you can actually use on a Tuesday
Most grandparenting books are either sentimental or academic. This one is neither. It takes what is genuinely known about how children develop from birth through the young adult years and turns it into things you can say and do, at the age your grandchild is right now.
It is written for the grandparent who wants more than to be loved. It is for the one who wants to be legendary, and is willing to be deliberate about it.
Look inside
What the book covers
The identity shift
What actually happens to you the day you become a grandparent, and why nobody warned you it would feel like this.
The developmental map
Birth through 25, age by age. What is true, what is typical, and what your grandchild needs from you at each step.
The hard conversations
Boundaries, rules, and the moments with your own adult children where the words matter most.
Traditions that hold
How to build the ordinary, repeatable things a grandchild carries into their own family.
Legacy, on purpose
Deciding what you want to leave, then working backward from it.
The Design Blueprint
A single page you fill in as you read, which is the whole book turned into your plan.
The waitlist
Hear about the book first
Launch date, cover reveal, and the occasional chapter worth sending early.
Last updated August 18, 2026.