Increasing interest is being directed toward the role of grandparents and their influence on children's development and welfare. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the literature and resources which may be used by family educators and counselors to help grandparents enhance their relationships with their grandchildren and families strengthen the extended family network. The symbolic, indirect, and direct influences of grandparents and the impact of grandparental influence on children are discussed. M any years ago while discussing life after graduate school a close friend and colleague stated that in whatever manner his career developed it would be within close proximity to his parents. He had grown up far from his extended family and had, in his estimation, very little contact with his grandparents. He did not want that to happen to his children. His deprivation was not going to be passed to his children. The importance of this episode for the second author was in his recognition of the impact of his own grandparents. The stories, the hugs, the summer evenings under the apple tree, and of course the gingersnaps are important memories. So also are the values learned from a butcher with an honest scale and a police chief who respected everyone and was respected by everyone. A most treasured item, a ring, given not from father to son but from grandfather to grandson waits for the fifth generation. Such is the influence of grandparents. Demographic changes have opened the door to a new and growing emphasis on grandparenthood in our society. Men and women are living longer than ever before in history and consequently, three-, four-, and even five-generation families are increasingly common (Brubaker, 1985). At the same time, the disruption of families through divorce, alcoholism, and other social problems has become pervasive. Attention has begun to be focused on the possibility of ameliorating the negative impact of family disruption through the social support of grandparents to the younger generations. In the past 20 years family scholars and Dractitioners have become increasingly interested in the significance of grandparenthood and the roles which grandparents play in the lives of grandchildren. From early studies on the varying roles of grandparents (Neugarten & Weinstein, 1964) and Robertson's (1975, 1976, 1977) early work on grandparental/grandchild relationships there has been a steady increase in the study of grandparenting. In 1983, for the first time, a multidisciplinary national conference on Grandparenting and Family Connections was held in Racine, Wisconsin. Publications which deal with grandparents and are concerned with issues such as the structure and function of families, socialization, influence patterns, and the transmission of values have begun to appear (Bengtson & Robertson, 1985; Brubaker, 1983, 1985; Tinsley & Parke, 1984). Several large scale projects focusing upon grandparents and their roles in family have been reported (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1986; Kivnick, 1982). It seems that the importance of grandparents in the social and cognitive