Wendy Orton – Canadian Grandparents

There are dozens of books available to grandparents who want to learn how to be the best grandparent possible. Throughout my 10 years as a grandmother, I have been reading each one as I find out about them. Some are better than others, but there are two books I adamantly do not recommend. They are not worth the cost of the book and they are certainly not worth your time. Excellent Grandparenting: The DNA of Grandparenting by Dr. Carol Teresa, and Grand Parenting by Dr. Meghan Rose. I believe they are both AI generated. I bought both books having been drawn in by their titles. Excellent Grandparenting is what we all strive for and the subtitle The DNA of Grandparenting suggests a deep dive into the wisdoms of grandparenting. Grand Parenting suggests that grandparenting is different from the parenting we are familiar with. Both are written by “doctors” suggesting an advanced level of knowledge through research as “Dr.” usually does. My first read was Grand Parenting by Dr. Meghan Rose who describes the book as “A short guide to being the best grandparent you can be to your offspring.” It is a short book being only 40 pages with large print for ease of read. There are only five sections: an introduction; three chapters and a conclusion. Simple enough. The Introduction is your first clue it isn’t going to be a quality read. “Grandparenting commonly happens when an individual has arrived at development and has thinking or experience to impart to the rising generations.” I thought it happened when our children have children of their own, but that is just me. The first chapter isn’t much better. When answering the question, “What is grandparenting?” the description includes, “Guard dog, narrator, family student of history, listening ear: Grandparents might satisfy these jobs from there, the sky’s the limit.” Guard dog? Narrator? Of what? Family student of history? I have never heard of a family student. The advice given is the same I have seen in other grandparenting books only in this book it is light on substantive thought. Not once did I stop to consider the point being made. I only stopped to try to make sense of the point which leads me to how the mundane advice written. It really smacks of artificial intelligence (AI). AI writing is evident throughout, for example, in a section headed “Solidness and stability”, the point made is that grandkids need stability and “soundness”. The advice offered about that stability includes this, “Family customs and history encourage dependability and grandparents can confer this data to assist jokes around with feeling they have a place.” AI does not offer nuances in the writing and needs an author to edit to offer the true meaning of the point. Which brings me to the author. Does Dr. Meghan Rose even exist? I couldn’t find anyone by this name – only a Dr. Megan Rose who studies the paranormal and her name is spelled differently. I turned to Excellent Grandparenting: The DNA of Grandparenting optimistic that there will be something more substantial, knowing it wouldn’t take much. I was shocked to find it is the same book. Almost word for word!!! To be fair, the introduction is different. The author begins the book with her own story as “a young girl living with her grandparents in a small, rural town.” She recounts her fond memories with her grandparents and her sadness when they passed away. And then, the writing started sounding familiar. I pulled out Grand Parenting and compared the two. It was exactly the same points and, in many places, exactly the same words! The yellow are the words that are exactly the same. The green are the different words but meaning the same. The handwriting is mine. The words are those used in Grand Parenting. I was gobsmacked. I went on the hunt for Dr. Carol Teresa googling the name and checking LinkedIn. Nothing. Of note, neither Dr. Carol Teresa nor Dr. Meghan Rose includes a bio in their books. While I thought it odd at the time, it is of no surprise. These authors don’t exist. Leave a comment below if you have ever experienced this.