Well, that's us told then...

Hi NannyOgg - I posted a thread about this at 7.30am this morning and at that point the only comments on the DM after the article were all in support of the woman's views...and interestingly, they were all from the US... haven't been back to see what's new but I am glad to hear that somebody has redressed the balance...

It's in the DM. It's bound to be bigoted and stupid.

I'm surprised they missed the chance to point out that Princess Diana would have been old enough to be a gran had she not been tragically killed, frankly.

They are slipping.

Well I posted my opinion of what she has said on the website, Although I had to sign up to the DM website to do so much against my better judgement!!

What a lot of old rubbish.

I've seen the majority of women here posting to say how wonderful grandmother hood is.

I know, I'm not a gran and I'm green with envy.
As someone has said though, it is the Daily Wail, and only the Devil reads that and even then he uses tongs to pick it up.

I really hate articles like this. She blathers on about being doolally about the grandchildren, as if they occupy her every waking minute ... but then you realise that, actually, she is a published journalist who must be locked away with her typewriter, have deadlines & other commitments and , in fact, A Life - just like the rest of us. Does she really think that being a grandmother precludes you from doing anything else? Does she really think that all grandmothers are white-haired retirees?

I have no idea who Carol Sarler is, so I googled her. Here is an excerpt from a 2004 article after the death of Lynda Lee-Potter, discussing who might fill her shoes as The Bitch of Fleet Street:

"Carol Sarler on the Express is interesting. She's a first-class investigative journalist, who used to work regularly for The Sunday Times magazine. She's extremely compassionate (but hides it beautifully). But she's so damned clever and versatile that she's metamorphosed into a first-class ranting, bitchy, tabloid journalist. I suppose it pays the bills. However: a) I suspect she's OK where she is; b) I fear she's overdone the bitchiness. And she's known as a very tough woman. Dacre would not love her. It's unlikely she could be sold to Daily Mail readers."

How wrong can you be?

I'm curious - has she actually joined us here or just cast her eye over a few threads? I hope it's the latter... never know what might get used in print in the future...

What a lot of copper-bottomed tosh!

I really wish that the Daily Waste of Space could get make some sort of effort to engage with proper journalism instead of trawling through the internet in order to poach comments and then reinterpret them. Lazy baggage!

(And I say this as someone who works in the meejah!)

Oh....and what a vitriolic stream of -consciousness article too.

What on earth could Gransnet have done to trigger off such outrageously ignorant statements as "And from where I sit, this new and achingly trendy grandmother, the one who feels she still has more to prove and better things to do (like logging on to Gransnet) is cutting off her nose to spite a very silly face indeed."

Methinks this daft, nasty bint protests too much...

Agree its a ridiculous article, but then 'daily mail reader' is one of my favoured terms of abuse for people I don't agree with!

Grandparenthood has been one of the most liberating experiences of my life. Enjoy every minute of it but I'm not ready to give up the rest of life yet

We can be loving grandmothers but still have a life of our own. What is wrong with trying to stay fit and healthy and not grow old before our time.

Its alright Geraldine (pats Geraldine on the arm). We told her.

I only joined Gransnet today because I read the DM article. I had never heard of you before but felt I had to have a look to see what the fuss was about. I'm glad I did and look forward to discovering more about the website and all the grannies on it. So although the article may not have been accurate it did some good!

I'm not a granny but must agree with everyone's disgust at the DM. It specialises in making women feel guilty/ bad about themselves, whatever lifestyle choices they make. I would say it is woman-hating. Yet strangely, lots of women must buy it and look at its site.

I don't recognise the forum that she wrote about as the one I have just [hurrah!] discovered.

Senua says it all. We are grandparents, love our grandchildren to bits but we have lives to live.

Does being a grandparent mean we have to drop everything else and just think of them? Do we have to stop being interested in fashion, makeup, hair, food, diets, exercise, culture etc. etc. ? No of course not. I enjoy lots of things but my daughters wouldn't want me to stop the world and get off to concentrate entirely on my grandchildren.

Parents are not expected to stop living to concentrate on their children they are supposed to have outside interests otherwise their children would suffer, so why does that not extend to grandparents?

It just shows why I hate the DM!
Of course DCs want a grandmother who is interesting and has her own life-much more exciting. I was unlucky in that my grandmothers were both dead by the time I was born but I wouldn't have expected an old lady who lived through me.
I have done my parenting- grandchildren are lovely and the relationship is lovely but I am not the parent and I don't want to be the person who picks them up everyday and gets them to eat their greens.It doesnt mean that I love them less than the author of the article, or that she is a superior grandmother. (she sounds smug and too closely involved).
I have just got back from holiday (not Saga) and I really did do a skydive 2 months ago! And why not?!

agree with everything said above! being a grandparent is the best thing in the world... all of the fun and none of the responsibility!

I'm another new member who found my way here thanks to the article in the Daily Wail.

I couldn't resist taking a peek, saw that things were nothing like described and took the plunge .

I adore being a Nonna to my 13 month old grandson (another one due in October) and despite only being 45, working full time and still having one of my own children at home and in full time education, I am very involved in his day to day life because I want to be and he is the light of my life

That doesn't mean that I'm about to have weekly shampoo and sets, start wearing a pinny (or God forbid, a housecoat), start carrying one of those plastic rain hats in my handbag, tut when sex scenes come on TV, start buying mothballs, worry about bats getting in my hair and obsess about bowel movements . ... all of which epitomised (but didn't define) my own, much adored, grandmother.

all of the fun and none of the responsibility!

Very true-that is what grandparents are for!

One friend admits that until her children were ten she allowed nobody other than her mother to babysit because, ‘When the lions come roaring through the window, she is the only person in the world, apart from me, who I know will stand unflinchingly between them and the babies.’

To quote from the article-this is what I hate about women who are devoted to their children and place such a burden on them. Your child will cope with a babysitter-they can go and stay with grandparents on their own etc etc -being a parent means gradually letting go.
I see that from the quote it is only the maternal grandmother who is fit to babysit-tough on the paternal grandparents who might want to have the 8yr old to stay for a weekend without devoted mother in control!

I would bet that the author of the piece is the maternal grandmother-if MIL acted liked her there would be hell to pay!

Sorry-really annoyed by the whole article and really pleased that she didn't find like minded Grans on here!

Have just read "that" article - she clearly wanted reaction. Don't worry, we know we are loving and caring grannies...and cool!

You might find this app useful.
It automatically replaces the Daily Mail ( and Express) websites, should you inadvertantly wander on to them, with soothing pictures of tea and kittens.

Very good for the blood pressure..

http://www.teaandkittens.co.uk/