What is called a hyperlink?

8 separate grandparents, kid almost 1 year old, and we still have no clue what they all want to be called!?

• My husband and I are not close with our parents. Some of them hadn't talked to us in literally years before we got married. None of them wanted to come to the wedding. However, when we got pregnant, we knew that even a disconnected or neglectful parent during our childhood, still has the potential to be a wonderful grandparent to our son. We know this because that was the case with our grandparents and their children. In any case, we are making efforts to break the cycle and surround our son with loving, compassionate people. So far, all the grandparents have been nothing less than loving towards him. So our dilemma is this: we don't know what any of the grandparents want to be called. Our son's 1 year birthday is in 3 weeks, we waited throughout the pregnancy and we waited throughout his infancy for someone to call themselves "grandma" or "nana" or something but no one has. We'd like to get this matter cleared up now, before our son is old enough to start recognizing them by name. Now in an ideal world, we'd all live near each other and be able to ask straight out- "what do you want him to call you as? is grandma ok?" but it is not an ideal world Both my husband's and my parents are divorced and have found new partners in life. So that means 4 sets of grandparents; 8 individual people. One set lives in Egypt, the other three sets live in the US. Within the US one set lives in Virgina, another Michigan, and the last in Illinois. My husband and I recently moved from Colorado to England. Three of the biologically related grandparents seem to have found permanent partners, while one of them is on their 4th marriage. I'm not sure if the spouses consider themselves grandparents or if they'd prefer to be called "Mr. Mike" or "Ms. Jan" instead of "grandpa" or "nana" I can see now, if they all want to be called "grandpa & grandma" then our son is going to get very confused. Besides this, there are some family traditions that signal someone may want to be a "nana" or a "granny" instead of a grandma. Still, I don't want to be presumptuous. What I'd like to do is write a gently worded email explaining that we were unsure what everyone wanted to be called, and requesting them to vocalize the name that they'd like to have. I'd be sure to let them know they were all loved and valued and that the reason for the email was simply to be respectful and avoid confusion or hurt later on. I'd also write something to the effect of appreciating their love and support towards our son and his growing. And I'd also want to include how every blessed we feel our son is for having so many grandparents to love him. I'm not sure if an email like this would be well accepted, or if there's any other way to nip this problem in the bud. The last thing I want is for it to be our son's graduation and have someone announce "I've always hated being called grandma- why couldn't I be a nana instead" as was the case with my own grandmother Any advice greatly appreciated!

• Answer:

  He's about to turn 1. Wait to see how they sign his birthday cards. If you don't get any answers from that, make impromtu phone calls to let him "talk" to them and ask the question casually.