Join Kenzi Locks, LCSW, HWC, Director of Program and Educational Development at Yesh Tikva, and Dr. Marian Getzler-Kramer, PhD, psychologist and facilitator of Yesh Tikva’s Supportive Spaces for Grandparents in Waiting, for a thoughtful conversation about the often unspoken experience of waiting for grandparenthood.

Together, they will explore the emotional complexity that can accompany this season of life, including grief, uncertainty, hope, helplessness, and the tension between longing for grandchildren and respecting the boundaries of adult children and their partners. The conversation will address how infertility, pregnancy loss, delayed marriage, and other family-building experiences may shape the experience of future grandparents in different ways.

Topics will include navigating difficult questions such as “When can I ask?”, “What if they never tell me?”, and “How do I support without pressuring?” Participants will also discuss recognizing and managing their own emotional responses, including anxiety, disappointment, jealousy, grief, or fear, without unintentionally placing that weight onto loved ones.

Additional discussion will focus on maintaining trust, connection, and emotional safety within family relationships; the impact of communal culture, simchas, holidays, and comparison within Jewish life; supporting friends who are also waiting for grandchildren; and using practical communication tools and supportive language that help loved ones feel seen rather than scrutinized.

This session will offer space for reflection, discussion, and compassionate conversation around the many emotions that can arise while waiting for a family to grow.

This event is being held with by SPIRIT program of the Orthodox Union.